Midco Arena hosts inaugural hockey game

The Midco Arena held its inaugural hockey game on Jan. 26, giving the Sioux Falls and Augustana communities an inside look at the $71.5 million facility and a chance to watch the Division I Vikings on their new home ice. 

Fans showed up in droves to support the Vikings on opening night. A crowd of 3,183 people attended, selling out the 154,000 square-foot arena’s 3,082 seats. 

“I’ve been in the building a lot in this final stage of getting it completed, but it’s as electrifying as we had hoped,” President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said. “You pack it in, and you get people excited about hockey and Augustana and what our team can do on the ice.”

The team took on Michigan’s Ferris State University on opening night and fell 5-2 to the Bulldogs. 

“Obviously we would have liked to have finished out that game in a different fashion, but our guys, they were all heart tonight,” head coach Garrett Raboin said. “The energy was there.” 

In fall 2023, the Vikings played their first home games at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center and practiced at the SCHEELS IcePlex. Senior forward Luke Mobley, who scored the Vikings’ first goal in the Midco Arena, said playing in the new facility was “settling.”

“It felt like we were finally home, with our building, our atmosphere, our fans,” Mobley said. “It felt a bit more rooted, and it was more grounding for sure. [There was] a ton of emotion in the first game, but I think we’ll settle into it.” 

Augustana first announced the construction of the Midco Arena in fall 2021 and initially planned to open the building in fall 2023. However, weather delayed the opening to January 2024. 

“It’s a huge celebration for Augustana,” Raboin said. “Not just their hockey program, but all those that put so much into this and they do deserve to celebrate it. It’s far more than just a game, and [there were] so many positives about tonight.” 

Several sponsors of the hockey program and Midco Arena were included in the opening night’s festivities. Midco chairman and CEO Pat McAdaragh and businessman T. Denny Sanford both dropped pucks prior to the start of the game, and Don Lucia, the commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, made an on-ice appearance with Josh Morton, Augustana’s vice president of athletics. 

“The best part about it is that there’s so many people who just worked so hard to get here,” Morton said. “It’s not just about a hockey team on the ice. It’s about our campus and what we’re doing at Augustana and then building a building and all the people that it takes to make that a reality. So, the teamwork is the best piece.” 

Michael Mages, who worked on the masonry of the Midco Arena during construction, said he enjoyed seeing the crowd turnout at the first game. He worked on the project for 15 months. 

“When I was building it, I said, ‘I gotta make sure I come to the first game,’” Mages said. 

After only seeing the arena in the daylight, Mages said it’s a sight to see at nighttime, as its lights shine through floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Other features of the arena were on full display on opening night. 

Two zambonis periodically cleaned the ice throughout the event. A four-paneled video scoreboard hung from the ceiling, featuring various advertisements and videos related to the hockey team, such as a tour of the trailers at the SCHEELS IcePlex and interviews with Raboin. 

“You have expectations and hopes and dreams of what [the arena] will be like, and this blows it away,” Morton said. “It’s just the energy in the building, the excitement for Augustana hockey and for our campus community and for the Sioux Falls community. It’s really unbelievable.” 

Spectators also witnessed several shows of fanfare throughout the game. 

Brian Hanegan, director of jazz studies, performed the national anthem on his saxophone, earning steady cheers from the crowd. 

Fans also found light-up bracelets in the cupholders of their seats, which they displayed during the introduction of the players and during goal celebrations. The bracelet’s lights were synchronized with overhead music. 

“It’s super exciting and just really energetic,” sophomore dancer Izzy Dalton said. “It’s nice to see all our fans here.” 

A row in section 115 claimed SCHEELS’ “Row of the Game,” in which those in the row were awarded SCHEELS gift cards, and a person in the Delman Family Student Section was chosen as the winner of a $500 Visa gift card. 

The student section holds more than 200 seats behind the east goal and offers $5 tickets to Augustana students. 

“[The students] are having a blast,” Raboin said. “They’re cheering on their classmates. And credit to those guys. I mean, there’s other student athletes in that group too, and they’re coming out to celebrate us just as we’re going to go celebrate them, and we have.”

Students showed their support in a raucous manner, engaging in cheers such as Freddie Mercury’s “Ay-Oh” chant and pounding on the plexiglass. 

Herseth Sandlin said one of her favorite parts of the evening was seeing the students’ excitement. 

“Seeing the students line up early, tailgating and being so engaged right out and right after the first puck drop to get the cheer going,” Herseth Sandlin said. “I’m excited for our student athletes and for the student section.”