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SUNY Potsdam Prepares to Welcome the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games with Torch Relay

SUNY Potsdam Joins North Country Community in Preparing to Welcome College Athletes from Around the World for Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games

Potsdam, NY (12/09/2022) — The Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games torch relay celebration arrived in Potsdam and Canton today, as part of 15-stop tour. The relay, which is powered by Hydro-Quebec, involved everyone from schoolchildren to university athletes, along with notable officials and community members.

Less than two months away, the 2023 FISU Games are expected to bring together 1,500 collegiate athletes, age 17-25, from 600 universities in 50 countries to participate in Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, freestyle and freeski, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, snowboarding ski jumping, and speed skating.

SUNY Potsdam is set to host the Athletes Village for the World University Games, welcoming more than 500 hockey athletes, coaches and support staff from around the globe for the event -- the largest multi-sport winter event in the world after the Olympics. The games will take place from Jan. 12 to 22, 2023. Tickets are on sale now at lakeplacid2023.com.

SUNY Potsdam will also host the games' ice hockey contests in the Maxcy Hall Ice Arena, along with Clarkson University's Cheel Arena, SUNY Canton's Roos House and the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. Tickets are now on sale for the hockey games and all other events. All games will stream live online at fisu.tv, with the finals being broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+. For more information on the local games and activities, visit www.visitstlc.com/fisucp.

Games mascot Mac the Moose hoisted the official torch on a tour through the Village of Potsdam today, including stops at SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson and a number of local businesses and institutions. Max C. Bear and the Golden Knight joined in on the fun, with local officials greeting the mascots and posing for photos with the torch across the historic downtown and on tours of both campuses.

More than 40 ROTC cadets based at Clarkson University -- including students from all of the regional colleges -- will complete the torch run from SUNY Potsdam's Maxcy Hall Ice Arena to Clarkson's Cheel Arena on Friday night. In a fitting lead up to the games, the torch run will take the runners from one arena to the other on a busy night of hockey in the North Country, as both campuses prepare to host contests-with the Potsdam Bears men's hockey team set to take on the Canton Roos at 7 p.m., and Clarkson's Knights set to take on Brown University at the same time in Cheel Arena.

For the first time the FISU Flame is being carried in a sustainable torch, with no actual combustion or flame present. Instead, in keeping with the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games' mission of sustainability, LED lights in the torch produce a brightly illuminated FISU Flame in a carbon-free presentation. These Games are the first in FISU history to make sustainability a major emphasis and provide a model for future FISU Games through the Save Winter campaign. Powered by Hydro-Quebec and supported by ESPN, Karbon, Microplus and Panasonic, Save Winter is a movement designed to unite all who love winter to work together on the mission to save "the season of snow."

The 22-inch-long torch was created and built by Adirondack Studios of Argyle, N.Y., the same studio that built the award podiums for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. The custom-made torch consists of elongated steel encasing a glacial-blue body, representing an artistic interpretation of ice and water.

Fans can follow the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with @LakePlacid2023, @SaveWinterHQ, #lakeplacid2023, #savewinter.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Application requests for working media accreditation for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games continue through Dec. 12, 2022. To apply for media accreditation, click HERE. To download the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games' media guide click HERE, the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games' media services guide is available HERE.

About SUNY Potsdam:

Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges -- and the oldest institution within SUNY. Now in its third century, SUNY Potsdam is distinguished by a legacy of pioneering programs and educational excellence. The College currently enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its challenging liberal arts and sciences core, distinction in teacher training and culture of creativity. To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu.

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Media Attachments

SUNY Potsdam mascot Max C. Bear accepts the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games torch from Mac the Moose on campus during the torch relay celebration on Friday, Dec. 9.

From left, Max C. Bear at center ice in SUNY Potsdam’s Maxcy Hall Ice Arena, with women’s basketball player Dyamon Hunter ’23 holding the FISU World University Games torch and men’s hockey player Andrew Lantry ’25 facing off.

Women’s volleyball player Jessica Ader ’22 poses with the FISU World University Games torch while wrapping up some yoga in SUNY Potsdam’s Wagner Institute for Sustainability and Ecological Research (WISER) Greenhouse. The games’ theme of sustainability is centered around the Save Winter campaign.

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