In making the relatively recent move to Division I athletics across the board, officials at the University of St. Thomas made it clear that they were looking to forge their own path among nationally-prominent Catholic schools, and were not trying to emulate what Notre Dame, Villanova, Boston College or others have done.

Still, when the Tommies christen Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in October, their first guests on the opposite bench for the facility’s inaugural hockey games have shown much about the right way a faith-based school can excel at top-level college athletics.

On Friday, Oct. 24, the Tommies will open their new home base with men’s and women’s hockey games versus Providence College, which has an established reputation as one of the top Catholic college hockey programs in the nation.

Construction on the new on-campus arena, which will seat upwards of 4,000 for hockey and 5,000 for basketball, began in January 2024 and is on schedule for completion in time for the 2025-26 season opener for the Tommies.

“This is a monumental day for the University of St. Thomas and Tommie athletics, and we are excited to welcome one of college hockey’s well-established programs in Providence College to open the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena,” said St. Thomas athletic director Phil Esten, in a statement released by the school. “This opening series is a culmination of four years of hard work by many and a seminal moment as we continue our Division I journey.”

It will be the first meetings between the Tommies and Friars, who are based in Rhode Island’s largest city. St. Thomas men’s hockey coach Rico Blasi spent the 2020-21 season as an associate athletics director for the Providence men’s and women’s hockey programs prior to being hired to run the Tommies men’s program.

Blasi and Friars men’s coach Nate Leaman had been working to get games between the two schools on their future schedules, and are happy for the opportunity to open the new arena.

“When you look at the institutions that are like-minded and similar across the country, Providence certainly comes to mind,” Blasi said. “Nate and his staff have done a great job in finding their niche in a very tough conference with the likes of BC and BU, no different than what we have to do — find our niche and recruit the players that are St. Thomas kind of players, to our identity and our culture.”

Blasi also praised the Andersons for their gift of $75 million which, along with other generous donations, made the state-of-the art arena a reality.

While neither team could compete in the NCAA tournament per the agreement they made to transition directly from D-III to D-I athletics, both the Tommie men’s and women’s programs had successful runs last season.

Blasi’s team went 15-3-1 in the second half of the season and advanced to the CCHA tournament’s title game for the first time.

The women’s team rebounded after a slow start and a November coaching change to pull off an unexpected sweep of nationally-ranked Minnesota Duluth in the second half of the season as well.

The NCAA agreed to take a year off the Tommies’ probationary period for full Division I membership. The school should know this summer if they’ll be eligible for NCAA tournaments next season.

The Providence men won their first NCAA title in 2015 and have made six trips to the national tournament in the past decade, including in March when the Friars received an at-large invite. In 2024-25 the Providence women finished 20-12-3 overall and finished third in Hockey East.

Season tickets for men’s and women’s hockey at St. Thomas are currently available through the school’s athletic department. Season ticket packages include the grand opening for the new arena.