By Riley McNulty · Every hockey team needs a barn. It is more than four walls, a sheet of ice and a set of boards. A barn is where a team builds its identity. It is whe…
Every hockey team needs a barn.
It is more than four walls, a sheet of ice and a set of boards. A barn is where a team builds its identity. It is where players spend countless hours together, where rivalries develop, where fans create traditions and where a hockey program begins to feel like it belongs.
For Georgia Southern Men’s Hockey, finding that place has taken time.
Now, the Eagles finally have one.
With the opening of the Ghost Pirates Ice Cove in Port Wentworth, Georgia Southern enters a new era with a home that gives the young program an opportunity to put down roots and continue building its identity in the Coastal Georgia hockey community.
Just two seasons ago, the idea of Georgia Southern having a dedicated home rink looked very different.
During the program's inaugural season in 2024-25, the Eagles practiced and played their home games at the Savannah Civic Center in downtown Savannah. The historic arena provided the team with its first home and a place to begin establishing Georgia Southern Hockey.
It was not a traditional beginning for a college hockey program. There was no established college hockey barn, no decades of traditions and no long history of fans filling the stands. There was simply a new team, a sheet of ice and an opportunity to build something.
The Civic Center became the starting point.
But even as the Eagles began their first season, the future of the building was uncertain.
In June 2024, the Savannah City Council approved plans for the removal of the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena as part of the larger future redevelopment of the Savannah Civic Center site. The decision came after the opening of Enmarket Arena and included plans to preserve and renovate other portions of the Civic Center, including the Johnny Mercer Theatre.
For Georgia Southern Hockey, the announcement meant that its first home would eventually disappear.
During the 2025-26 season, the reality of that change became more significant. As the City of Savannah continued moving forward with plans to remove the arena, the Eagles were also looking toward the future of their own program.
And that future was beginning to take shape in Port Wentworth.
A New Place to Build
The Ghost Pirates Ice Cove was created with the goal of expanding hockey and skating opportunities throughout the region. Located in Anchor Park, the 90,000-square-foot facility features two sheets of ice and serves as the official practice facility of the Savannah Ghost Pirates.
But the Ice Cove is not just a home for professional hockey.
The facility offers year-round public skating, Learn to Skate programs, Learn to Play hockey and youth hockey opportunities. It will also become home to the Junior Ghost Pirates, creating opportunities for young players throughout the area to develop their skills and continue playing hockey close to home.
For Georgia Southern, the timing could not have been better.
While the Eagles were figuring out what their future would look like following the Civic Center, a new hockey facility was being built nearby.
Suddenly, the program that had started without a permanent home had an opportunity to become part of something much bigger.
The Ice Cove gives Georgia Southern more than a place to play games. It gives the Eagles an opportunity to establish a true home-ice advantage and become part of a facility designed specifically around the sport.
That matters for a program still in its early stages.
Growing With the Game
Georgia Southern Hockey has grown considerably since that first season at the Civic Center.
During the 2025-26 season, the Eagles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference Hockey League (ACCHL) and competed in AAU Division 3. It marked another important step for a program that was still establishing itself within the collegiate hockey landscape.
This season, the Eagles are taking another step.
Georgia Southern has moved up from AAU Division 3 to AAU Division 2, giving the team a new level of competition and another opportunity to measure its progress against stronger opponents.
The move to Division 2 comes at the same time the Eagles are settling into their new home.
That makes the 2026-27 season about more than a change in division.
It is a chance to build.
A team can grow when its players know where they will practice, where they will play and where they will see their supporters every week. A home rink becomes a gathering place, not just for the team, but for the community surrounding it.
For Georgia Southern, the Ice Cove can become that place.
Finally, a Barn
There is something special about the way hockey players talk about their home rink.
They call it the barn.
The word carries a certain weight in hockey culture. It represents the place where a team becomes a team. It is where players know every corner of the ice, where fans know where they like to sit and where memories accumulate season after season.
Georgia Southern is just beginning to build those memories.
The Eagles' first home was a historic downtown arena that helped launch the program…