J. Thom Lawler Arena



The J. Thom Lawler Arena is an arena located in the Volpe Complex on the campus of Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. The facility opened in 1973 and was renovated in 2010. The facility is home to the Merrimack Warriors hockey team of the Hockey East conference. The facility seats 2,549 for ice hockey. The facility is also used as the basketball arena for the school's basketball teams. Over the summer and winter break of 2010, extensive renovation was done on the arena. The wooden bench seating was completely replaced with seatback chair seating and a student bleacher section was installed behind the visiting goalie's side. The "tin foil" insulation was removed from the roof as well. Seating capacity did go down but attendance has skyrocketed.

The hockey arena is named for J. Thom Lawler, former coach of the men's hockey team who died in 1978 at age 44, just after leading the team to the 1978 Division II men's ice hockey national title.