Ingalls Rink

New Haven, CT · Public skating times & prices

Eero Saarinen's humpbacked-roof rink, dedicated in 1959 and known across college hockey as the Yale Whale.

Public skating at Ingalls Rink: the next 7 days

Tuesday, October 13

  • · Public Skate

Thursday, October 15

  • · Public Skate

Admission and skate rental

Admission
$10–$15 · Official source
Address
73 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Website
recreation.yale.edu
The rink's front elevation: the swooping concrete-and-copper roof lifted at the centre on its backbone, a glass and timber entrance wall below it and a three-lamp mast above. — Ingalls Rink
The rink's front elevation: the swooping concrete-and-copper roof lifted at the centre on its backbone, a glass and timber entrance wall below it and a three-lamp mast above. Photo: Gunnar Klack · CC BY-SA 4.0
The empty ice seen from one end, with the rink's curved timber ceiling sweeping overhead, an American flag and banners of Ivy League schools hanging from it and the scoreboard at the far end. — Ingalls Rink
The empty ice seen from one end, with the rink's curved timber ceiling sweeping overhead, an American flag and banners of Ivy League schools hanging from it and the scoreboard at the far end. Photo: Nick Allen · CC BY-SA 3.0

Eero Saarinen's Yale Whale

David S. Ingalls Rink was designed by architect Eero Saarinen and dedicated in 1959; it hosted its first intercollegiate game on December 3, 1958, when the Bulldogs faced Northeastern. It is named for former Yale men's ice hockey captains David S. Ingalls and David S. Ingalls Jr., and gifts from the Ingalls family provided the bulk of the money to build it.

The building gets its look from a humpbacked roof supported by a 300-foot backbone. It has been compared to a Norse helmet and a brontosaurus, but the name that stuck is the Yale Whale, and the New York Times named it the rink with the best design across all of America.

A multi-million dollar renovation was completed in 2010, and a hockey heritage area inside the main entrance shows Yale's hockey history back to the first intercollegiate game in America, Yale against Johns Hopkins in 1896. The rink hosts Yale's men's and women's varsity teams, Yale Club Hockey, intramural hockey and university skating.

Before you head out.

Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.

Admission

Open Skate passes are $10 a session for the Yale community and $15 a session for everyone else.

Source checked · · Official source

Skates & rentals

Skates are not provided; skaters bring their own skates and safety equipment.

Source checked · · Official source

Booking & check-in

Session passes are sold only online through a MyRec account, never at the rink, and expire three days after purchase.

Source checked · · Official source

Skating with children

Children 4 and under may not enter the ice, ages 5 to 15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times, helmets are strongly encouraged, and hockey is not permitted during Open Skate.

Source checked · · Official source

Parking & arrival

There is no designated parking for Ingalls Rink; metered lots and street parking are adjacent to the facility.

Source checked · · Official source

A source check records what the rink published on that date. Session-specific booking details take precedence.