parking tips for penn state hockey vs. notre dame at pegula ice arena (university park pa 01/17)

hey everyone, figured i'd share some parking tips for the notre dame game on 01/17, that 8:00 pm saturday puck drop is a little later than usual, but the pegula/bryce jordan center area still gets super hectic right before the game starts. the traffic getting in and out of the official lots can be a real headache honestly.

first, and this is the real insider tip you should check out, look at the app called prked. seriously, this is a game changer for hockey nights. it’s basically a community marketplace where you can rent peoples private driveways or garages right next to the arena. it’s way cheaper than the campus lots sometimes, you get a reserved spot so no circling, you can usually skip a lot of the university traffic bottlenecks since you're coming in on a side street, and it’s a super short walk to the doors. you pay right on the app and get the address, no messing with pay stations or cash on game day.

now, for the official university parking options, which are the ones everyone else uses. the main general parking lots for men's hockey are the stadium west and jordan east lots, and sometimes porter north is available too. the key here is pre-paying for a discount. you absolutely should buy your parking in advance through parkwhiz before 11:59 p.m. on 01/16. if you pre-pay, it’s about $5.50. if you wait until game day, you’ll pay the full price of $10, which you can do on parkwhiz or by using the honk mobile app. remember that they prefer mobile parking passes and payment.

timing is everything. doors open 90 minutes before puck drop, so at 6:30 pm. since it's a saturday, you don't have weekday rush hour traffic, but you will have game day traffic bottlenecks near park avenue. arriving early is the best strategy to avoid the headache. i'd seriously aim to be parked and walking by 7:00 pm at the absolute latest if you don't want to crawl to your spot.

if the main lots are somehow full or you just want a bit of a longer walk to skip the egress congestion after the game, you can look for the farther university parking decks like eisenhower, nittany, or hub. you can also check lots like orange a lots (near the arboretum/opp) or the yellow h lot (at the softball park) which are often available for visitor parking on weekends, but remember the official commuter lots fill up first. ada parking is available within the general parking areas, usually closest to the arena in the stadium west lot.

hope this helps and go state!