Penn State officials told 6News that construction of the $70 million Pegula Ice Arena is several weeks ahead of schedule because of the recent streak of mild winter weather.

Joe Battista, Associate Athletic Director for the Ice Arena and Hockey said dozens of commitments have already been made, following the $88 million donation announced in 2010.

"Terry and Kim Pegula: Their charge to us was to have the fastest ice sheet, to have a loud, boisterous building, to have all the amenities to attract future Olympics professional players,” said Battista. "We've got the head coaches, the assistant coaches, director of operations. We only have to hire strength coaches and equipment managers and some office support staff and we're good to go."

Blasting at the construction site, near the intersection of University Drive and Curtin Road, started this week and portions of the steel structure could start going up as early as Blue White weekend this spring.

The 220,000 square-foot, 6,000-seat arena, which is expected to be completed by September 2013, will replace the current rink inside the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex, which will be repurposed once the Pegula Ice Arena is complete.

"When you look at the current rink, we open up at 6:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the morning, 360 days a year, seven days a week. When we have two sheets of ice, we're going to be able to provide more programming,” said Battista.

The Icers will play their final home game as a club team inside the Ice Pavilion Friday night, but Battista said the creation of Division 1 men's and women’s ice hockey teams will not be the end of the road for club teams.

"There will be the varsity men, the varsity women, at least one ACHA men's team, one ACHA women's team and there could be more,” said Battista.