By Dylan Pichnarcik News Editor By Izabela Gage Editorial Staff The Framingham State women’s ice hockey team has been without storage facilities at Loring Arena for their inaugural season, athletic officials say. Athletic Director Thomas Kelley said the reason a storage room has not been provided is due to staffing shortages at Loring Arena. “There's a couple moving parts in this conversation. One is that there's all new management at Loring right now,” Kelley said. Loring Arena, located on Fountain Street in Framingham, is the home ice for both the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. The rink is managed by the City of Framingham’s department of Parks & Recreation. The men’s hockey team has its own storage room within Loring Arena. The women’s team, on the other hand, does not have any storage space at Loring Arena. Unlike the men’s hockey team, the women’s team must travel to the Maple Street facility every morning before practice, which must then be unlocked by the head coach, Robert Lavin. After the players pick up their equipment, they must then drive to Loring Arena and bring their equipment inside before getting ready to practice. The Maple Street facility is roughly an 8-minute walk off campus and a 5-minute drive from Loring Arena. Prior to the conclusion of the fall athletic season, players on the team were responsible for storing their equipment individually in their residence halls and vehicles, according to Lavin. Students who were unable to store their equipment in their vehicles had to carry their equipment from campus to their vehicles in the Union Lot, which is about a 15-minute walk from campus. After the fall athletic season ended, players were given access to the Maple Street Athletic facility to store their equipment. Members of the team were given clearance to park their vehicles in the Maple Athletic Lot for the rest of their season, according to Athletics Deputy Director Carey Eggen. “Facilities graciously made some changes in one of the rooms to give them plenty of hanging storage to air out and store their equipment,” Eggen said. Kelley said, “We explored a lot of different solutions - that was the best.” Freshman Kalina Cochran, a member of the women’s ice hockey team, said having space to dry out their gear is an improvement over storing equipment in their vehicles. “However, it’s kind of embarrassing that we use the visiting team’s locker room. “We were told that we couldn’t leave anything on the benches [in the Maple Street facility] one day because a visiting team had to use the space. At a college program, that’s kind of unacceptable.” Cochran added, “Having our stuff at Maple is better than when we were keeping it in our cars at Union, but really not ideal. Because we are almost all freshmen, we have to park there. Often, we would have to leave for practice before the RamTram was running, which meant walking the mile to the Union Lot in the dark at 5:45 in the morning.” During home games and practices, the women's ice hockey team is “assigned a locker room at the rink to change, shower, and meet.” However, they are not allowed to store any equipment at the arena outside of their ice time, said Eggen. Due to security concerns, the Maple Street facilities are locked when students or staff are not using them. Because of this, Lavin has to unlock the storage room for the team to obtain or return their equipment and uniforms before and after every game and practice. Eggen said, “I don’t believe there are any Title IX violations” because there are no rules regarding providing changing facilities at arenas for male and female athletes. Freshman Petra Cernicek, a member of the women’s ice hockey team, said, “Having to pick up our stuff from the field house does become a little inconvenient - not only for us players, but also our coach, who has to drive there every morning before 6:30 a.m. to unlock it for us.” Junior Emma O’Regan, also a member of the women’s ice hockey team, said, “It’s hard because it just adds another stop before and after games and practice.” Freshman Lily Wilson, another member of the women’s ice hockey team, said, “It is a bit of an inconvenience - especially for the coaches because they have to come unlock it every time.” Kelley said, “I haven't heard any complaints. We’re dealing with Facilities and keeping that building heated all winter. On the road trips, they leave right from there, and players are parking down there. We're trying to make it as seamless as possible. Hopefully, by [next season], we'll have this thing squared away.” Joe Frappier, Loring Arena manager, said, “We currently do not really have any extra or unused storage space in the arena.” According to fsurams.com, Loring Arena underwent a $6 million renovation that was completed in the fall of 2018. The project added a “dedicated locker room and storage space for the FSU ice hockey program.” According to Frappier, FSU does not pay annually for the men’s ice hockey team to store equipment at the arena. However, FSU gave the City of Framingham $250,000 to complete the 2018 upgrade to the arena. The storage rooms renovated for the FSU men’s hockey program in 2018 are all being used by the men’s ice hockey team, according to Dale Hamel, former executive vice president of administration, finance, and technology. Cochran said, “Not having a dedicated storage space or locker room at Loring is both inconvenient and unfair, considering that the men’s team has a storage room there.” Freshman Finley Hogan, a member of the women’s ice hockey team, said, “The lack of team storage is definitely an annoyance because we then have to move our bags every day.” Athletic Director Kelley said a storage room or locker room was not budgeted during planning for establishing a women's ice hockey program. “We're talking to different people and seeing what it's going to take to make it a suitable, better situation.” He added there are many variables in figuring out a storage situation for the women’s team, including “seeing what the school can do and what the city can do for us.” Freshman Brigid Milligan, a member of the women’s ice hockey team, said, “It’s a bit frustrating that it wasn't dealt with sooner.” Wilson said, “Realistically, we are a first-year team and these things just take time and need to be worked out. “This season is a bit of a rush because this stuff takes planning, but it’s better to start thinking of ideas now rather than waiting,” she added. Deputy Director Eggen said, “We will work with the Director of the Park & Rec department as well as the Rink Manager. This will also involve the FSU VP for Finance, Technology, and Administration/CFO and the FSU VP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students.” The 2018 Loring Arena renovation project addressed issues regarding health and safety, accessibility, and energy efficiency, according to the City of Framingham website. However, the website also provides a statement regarding inadequacies pertaining to gender separation issues. “When the arena was originally constructed, the predominant use for team sports was male hockey. The arena was designed with common hallways to access locker rooms, gang showers, and restroom facilities. “The extent of these original design deficiencies became apparent with the advent of women’s hockey at all levels. The current configuration of these spaces can often result in one gender having no access to appropriate shower/restroom facilities. Additionally, this configuration leaves the City exposed to potential liability issues. Completion of design development will provide the appropriately designed locker rooms, shower facilities, and restrooms to meet the community’s needs now and into the foreseeable future.” Cernicek said, “Our coach is trying to find a better solution closer to or even at Loring Arena but we have not heard anything about it.” Freshman Lila Chamoun, a member of the women's ice hockey team, said, “We make it work with what we have and are grateful that we at least have somewhere to keep our stuff.” Hogan said, “A lot of things can happen in a year, so I would say anything is a possibility, but it’s already better than it was at the beginning of the year.” Kelley said, “We’re just happy to have a women’s ice hockey team. It was long time coming but finally we’re there - baby steps.”