Day 4 started with Yaz wanting to get some exteriors of Clarkson's arena and myself wanting to take a stroll around Clarkson's other buildings. What we found was one of the most uninspiring campuses I've ever seen, which provided none of that excitement you normally feel on manicured and intricate university grounds.

Part of this would be because of Clarkson starting out in downtown Potsdam - a couple of days ago we had actually wondered about whether their Snell Hall was abandoned - then eventually moving more and more of their facilities up to this other campus on the hill. Therefore there's very few old or imposing buildings over here.

At least it had a pleasant setting amongst the nearby woods and hills of upstate NY.

Down the hill and closer to the Raquette River, Yaz and I parked and figured we should check out the old home to Clarkson's hockey teams, the Walker Arena.

From the outside, it didn't seem like it would be too exciting.

Ohhhh now wait a second.

Okay, I wasn't expecting this. Walker Arena doesn't have a single Google Review or Google Photo posted, which means you have to zoom in pretty far for the place to even show up in Google Maps. Even after determining that this was their old arena, it wasn't clear what it was used for nowadays or if we could even go inside.

To then go inside and find this? It made me wonder what else Clarkson University was hiding from us, haha.

Yaz and I picked our way all over, with the seating area creaking as the dark wood enveloped us and gave off the feeling of being on an old-timey ship. You could escape said ship along the sides of building, but anytime I went down the stairs or to the glass, I was right back in the thick of things.

What a work of art. Of craftsmanship. I was so happy that Clarkson administrators saw a future use for Walker Arena even after they constructed Cheel Arena.

Clarkson's Men's Ice Hockey Program officially started in 1935, playing on an outdoor rink at Ives Park just south of the Trinity Episcopal Church which I posted in the first update of this trip. They needed an indoor rink though, and Walker Arena was opened by 1938 to satisfy that need.

Walker Arena saw its first substantial renovation in 1952 with the addition of the ability to make artificial ice, then a major renovation in 1971 replaced the ice surface, added heaters to the building, brought the capacity up to 2300, and added lighting that finally made Cable TV broadcasts possible.

The Golden Knights left Walker Arena in 1991, amidst an undefeated, 18-0-1 season, where they won their NCAA quarterfinals matchup here at Walker Arena over the defending champs, the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

You know how they say some old barns like the Chicago Stadium and Windsor Arena would shake due to the fan noise and excitement? I can't imagine how much Walker Arena must've shook during that last game.

With the opening of Cheel Arena in 1991, Walker Arena then saw limited usage for nearly 15 years. Thankfully, Clarkson University president Tony Collins and assemblyman Darrell Aubertine worked towards the incredible renovation project here; secured heavily by Aubertine's passion for the project and the $1-million grant to make it happen.

The renovation turned a portion of the arena into an area for studying efficient energy sources, while the main rink was covered with synthetic turf and now plays home to baseball, soccer and lacrosse practices.

Speaking of lacrosse, it worked out pretty well that everyone was filing outside to the lacrosse field as we showed up, then they only came back inside to stretch once Yaz and I had already spent an hour wandering around with our tripods.

Taking a few last shots in the dark lobby, a man asked if he could help us and we explained that we like visiting old arenas and really liked Walker Arena. He was a coach of some sort, who was very proud of the renovation and happily answered all of our questions about what sports still play here since the hockey teams left. He was also very happy that a couple of rink aficionados got to see the old rink; while it made me happy to see others appreciating old rinks themselves.

After last night's frustrating encounter with the woman at the bowling alley, it was refreshing to have a pleasant encounter with a Potsdam local. Not to mention that I already had a smiling and chatty exchange this morning at McDonald's, even as I was worried that I was going to look like a dishevelled weirdo with my Ziploc bag of American coins I was trying to use up.

Just 15 minutes down the road from Clarkson University lies St. Lawrence University, where we were going to go see another Division I hockey game tonight. Getting out of the car because Yaz wanted to go take some pictures of the rink before game time, I wanted to once again check out the team's campus.

Coming across the above Herring-Cole Hall, it seemed worthy of a closer look.

The Herring Library was St. Lawrence University's first library, built in 1869 and located in the back end of my exterior picture. In 1902, the Cole Reading Room was attached to the side of the Herring Library to make a T-shaped building.

Both of the buildings were constructed with Potsdam Sandstone.

As much as I'm a fan of the weird floors and tucked-in obscure spaces of the University of Windsor's Leddy Library, I think I might trade ol' Leddy for SLU's Herring-Cole Hall.

Especially as this isn't SLU's main library anymore, but rather just an ancillary reading room where you can quietly tend to your studies.

I also liked the look of SLU's Leckonby Stadium, except they completely fooled me with their clapboard and keystones, as Leckonby was only built in the year 2000!

Immediately behind us was the campus gym, up on a second floor and lined with elliptical machines and treadmills, where plenty of students were working out. Yaz said what I was thinking, that it always feels weird to be taking pictures in spots like this, and agreeing, I suggested we should get going, haha.

Today wouldn't only feature the Division I game, as just up the road, SUNY-Canton was taking on the Oswego State Lakers in D-III women's ice hockey action.

SUNY-Canton plays in the Convocation, Athletic and Recreation Center, aka the CARC, which was built in 2011. It gets one point from me for looking like something INTEL or 3M would build.

SUNY-Canton has had an ice hockey program since the mid-1960s, although I can't figure out where they played prior to the CARC.

My best guess would be the Village of Canton's Pavilion Ice Rink?

SUNY-Canton has a bit more fun with their mascot than Oswego State, as they decided on becoming the SUNY-Canton Kangaroos in 2006, lol.

This Kangaroos couldn't put the W in their pouch this afternoon though, as Oswego State came back with two goals in the third period to win it by a score of 2-1.

Less than 30 minutes later we were squeezing in pictures of the exterior of St. Lawrence University's arena at dusk. It would have been nice to stop for dinner in Canton as it looked like an interesting town, but warmups were soon starting between the SLU Skating Saints and the Harvard Crimson.

This trip was different than Yaz and I going on a QMJHL trip or an AHL trip, in that I wasn't familiar with most of these teams and certainly not their arenas. And simply being happy to be here, I didn't go out of my way to look into their home barns prior to coming.

Therefore you can imagine the thud my jaw made, when it hit the floor walking into St. Lawrence University's Appleton Arena.

This may look like Walker Arena, but Appleton Arena's similarities ended at having the same bench seating.

Here there were even more rows and then a spacious and well-decorated lobby attached. There was also actual space in the standing room area along the rails, plus a wide concourse, and food concessions/meeting rooms at the corners.

I'm obviously okay with watching hockey in a relic and I also think other fans and the players should be fine with it too.

Appleton wasn't that though. This wasn't the ancient Colisée de Laval or the Jack Gatecliff Arena, but rather the greatest example I've seen of a historic arena renovation. Appleton Arena shined as one of the coolest arenas I'd ever seen.

I don't know how often I'll find myself in Canton New York, but man was I happy that this was here and they worked to preserve it. What a gem.

Tonight was Seniors Night, where the focus was on the five players who were finishing up their multiple years here at St. Lawrence University. On Twitter, it was nice to see quotes from these players talking about the history of Appleton Arena, and how they knew this was where they wanted to play the moment they walked into the historic building.

Save for Madison Square Garden, you don't really hear about this in the NHL as all the arenas are new and/or generic. I loved hearing an appreciation of old barns from hockey players, like the way you do with baseball players talking about Fenway, Wrigley, or Dodger Stadium.

I would've been ecstatic if Yaz got us some of these strange Row J seats where we could feel like team owners at the top of our little faux box, but instead we were down in Row G or F. We were actually amongst a bunch of the senior's families, where siblings had oversized printed cutouts of their brother's heads and the Moms all had giant rocks on their index fingers, haha.

St. Lawrence managed to send everyone happy too, as they upended #20-ranked Harvard by a score of 6-3.

Heading back to the motel here in Potsdam, this marked the end of our upstate hockey schedule, although with five hours of driving between Potsdam and the airport in Hartford, maybe we could find somewhere to stop tomorrow.

Hmmm, sounds like more to come.

Continue to Part 5...