New England Sports Center
The New England Sports Center (NESC) is honored to have been chosen as the recipient of the Marlborough Spirit Award by our fellow Chamber members.
The New England Sports Center is located on a 24 acre parcel of land at 121 Donald Lynch Boulevard in Marlborough. We chose this city for its central location in New England, its proximity to two major highways (495 and 290), the number of hotel rooms locally available, and the number of quality restaurants and other services that support the approximately two million NESC visitors a year.
It was built in 1994, starting as a family oriented ice skating and recreational facility with four full size NCAA ice surfaces. The demand that it has created in the New England youth hockey and figure skating community over the past 17 years has driven us, with city and community support, to add a fifth ice surface in 2004, and a sixth ice surface in 2011, plus a small studio rink for training and family activities needing only a small ice surface.
The facility’s amenities include a 30,000 square foot heated viewing area overlooking all six ice surfaces with a family oriented restaurant, snack bar, and video arcade. Elevator access to the viewing area is a big hit with the grandparents and handicapped. The facility also contains 15,000 square feet of in-rink viewing platforms and seating, a pro shop, offices and conference and meeting rooms. Over 3,000 teams skate at NESC annually.
New England Sports Center hosts many annual events, both hockey and figure skating, at the regional, national and international levels.. A few examples are the prestigious ISI World Figure Skating competitions, the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, the Paralympic World Sled Hockey Competitions, many USA Hockey Men and Women’s National Championships and the United Way Figure Skating Ice shows. The NESC is a member of the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA), Ice Skating Institute (ISI), USA Hockey, New England Ice Skating Managers Associations (NEISMA) and the Serving the American Rinks Association (STAR).
Nineteen local private and public high school hockey teams, both varsity and junior varsity, utilize the New England Sports Center for practices and games. Becker College makes use of the facility for their games and practices, and the Worcester Sharks AHL Team practices at the facility.
New England Sports Center is home to the Minuteman Flames, an elite youth hockey organization that fields both boys and girls teams from the 6 and 7 year old entry level to the high school level. Many of the alumni of the Flames program have gone on to play for Division I, II, and III colleges. Some have advanced to the AHL, NHL and Olympics, including Mike Greer, now with the Buffalo Sabres, recently playing is his 1,000th NHL game, Tara Mounsey, a Brown University and USA Woman’s Olympic Team Star, and Bobby Butler, a Marlborough resident, who now plays for the Ottawa Senators.
The Skating Club of Boston, the oldest figure skating club in the country, utilizes our facility, as well as the internationally famous Haydenettes. These clubs have won numerous national and international competitions. The NESC is a green facility, with many energy saving and environmentally safe initiatives, including electric Zamboni’s, energy co-generation systems, heat reclamation systems, and computer controlled refrigeration and HVAC systems.
The NESC facility is also equipped with an AED’s (Automatic External Defibrillator), and our staff is trained in its use, as well as first responder and CPR.
Learn more about NESC.