Ice Hockey Gets a New Home
In the summer of 1973, following the suggestion of U-M baseball coach Don Lund, the University of Michigan began a renovation project to convert Yost Field House into Yost Ice Arena. With the men’s basketball team six years removed from calling Yost its home after the construction of Crisler Arena in 1967, and with football having moved to Oosterbaan Field House in 1970, the time was right for ice hockey to make the move from Weinberg Coliseum. The hockey team had played at Weinberg, on the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Hill Street, since its inception as a program in 1923, but the building’s life span as an ice rink had run its course. Michigan hired Charles R. Beltz and Co., a mechanical firm from Detroit and one of the largest builders of ice-making equipment in the world, to create the ice rink, which was completed shortly before the start of the 1973-74 season. Michigan played its first home game at Yost Ice Arena on Nov. 2, 1973, defeating Waterloo Lutheran, 6-2, with Gary Morrison scoring twice to lead the Wolverines.
Source : 150 Years of University of Michigan Athletics