What do you look for in a rink?

[Crazy legs 0]

Hey guys/gals, I'm just lookin for some feedback in what you look for in a rink.

Here's the deal.

Suppose a new sports complex is opening up, what features would you like to see the rink have? What about your rink now don't you like.

Few examples of what I'd like to have

1. Clean locker rooms

2. Clean bathrooms and Showers

3. Cleaned often, well kept surface(roller)

4. Accurate and working scoreboard

5. music on stops of play

6. Goals and assists over P.A.

7. Games on actual day of league. Like if you play on monday night, you don't have overflow games Tues or Thurs.

8. Proper ventalation

9. Video Taping system( for disputed errr fights or maybe it's your kid's first hat trick)

10. Locked individual team locker rooms

11. Updated and accurate website information ie. stats, game times

12. Some form of trophy for the league winners that stays at the rink's showcase (Think Stanley cupish)

So what would you like to see?

[Cheechoo 0]

Knowledgable, experienced refs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[awall 0]

Good ice would be nice.

Polite curtious staff. Why does it always seem like the front desk people are always crabby?

Separation of Church and State... err I mean Separation of Hockey and Figureskating.

Knowledgable front desk staff. I hate asking them quesitons that they should know the answer to and getting an I don't know.

Reasonable rates for Ice Time or even package deals. Stick & Puck at my local rink costs $10, if you buy a punch card they lower the cost to $7.

Public Bullitin boards. Students looking for coaches, coaches looking for students. Class schedules, Ice time Schedules. Updated websites can be nice too.

These are just a few off the top of my head.

[chippa13 1844]

Good ice is always number 1, especially in the summer months. Nothing worse than wet spots lasting to the third period. Good control of humidity in the rink is a key to this.

[jjtt99 0]

GOOD ICE. Everything else is secondary.

But if looking at the secondary stuff:

1. Decent locker rooms with clean showers that are a comfortable temperature and have good water pressure.

2. A place to have a beer after the game.

Cheers,

JJ

[Crazy legs 0]

awesome so far, keep em coming

;)

[Fletch 219]

Knowledgable, experienced refs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES.

[Chadd 916]

1. Clean locker rooms

2. Clean bathrooms and Showers

3. Cleaned often, well kept surface(roller)

4. Accurate and working scoreboard

5. music on stops of play

6. Goals and assists over P.A.

7. Games on actual day of league. Like if you play on monday night, you don't have overflow games Tues or Thurs.

8. Proper ventalation

9. Video Taping system( for disputed errr fights or maybe it's your kid's first hat trick)

10. Locked individual team locker rooms

11. Updated and accurate website information ie. stats, game times

12. Some form of trophy for the league winners that stays at the rink's showcase (Think Stanley cupish)

1. Always nice and may m,ake a difference if there is a lot of competition.

2. See #1

3. The surface is one of the two main features that will bring people in, the other is the price.

4. If you plan to have any youth hockey, the scoreboard needs to work. As a ref, I really like it when there is a clock or scoreboard at each end.

5. Highly overrated. During the season here I think they only have a couple CDs they use and if I hear AC-DC 12 times on a Saturday, it was a light day.

6. God to have but watch out for the parents or kids who try to be the show on the microphone.

7. The league I'm in plays Tues-Thurs and it's not a big deal as long as the schedule is pulished well in advance.

8. Anything less would be half assed and it's not much more expensive to do it right.

9. Good for the fights and you can make money on the kids games if you promise one week turnaround on the games.

10. If you have a shower/bathroom for each locker room it's a nice touch.

11. Always a good thing and there are some services online to help with that.

12. That's always popular with kids and some of the adults.

Here are a couple of my thoughts.

If scheduling figure skaters, allow for extra time to repair the ice before anything else is scheduled.

A full service pro shop and cafe can make a large difference in the overall impression, plus it goves mom something to do while the kids are playing.

A gym or workout center can also help draw income and give your facility/teams an edge.

[Fletch 219]

A good, well-stocked pro shop is always nice.

[J-Shera 0]

National anthem's before games, I allways loved that. haha :D

[Fletch 219]

National anthem's before games, I allways loved that. haha :D

Seriously...that's rad.

[M-Cohen 0]

I really like a bright ice surface. not bright enough that it blinds you but nice and birhg tis always good. In the GTHL in my ag we just started getting zambonies to come out between the second and third last year and i htink it would be great if they would come out between every period. I also like benches that are far enough away from the boards tht you can sit down. when your sitting and your legs are crunched up against eh boards it's not vary nice.

[Fletch 219]

One thing I think more rinks would do is to make the leagues more "serious" for us old guys.

I think a good start would be to make matching jerseys and socks mandatory for all league play. One thing I can't stand is when teams show up with every guy wearing a different jersey- it looks like friggin' pick-up out there.

Another thing would be to have a website with weekly updated stats, and some kind of team profile for each team.

Also, an all-star game during a season would be good.

[Crazy legs 0]

good idea about the all-star game fletch.

Thinking of individual titles as well.

point leader, goal leader, assists, saves.etc and so on

give em a t-shirt or something(so we can pick on them in the room lol)

Agreed on the jersey issue. I don't think people will mind an extra $7-$10 a head for matching jerseys.

Great responses from all so far, going to be a roller complex as well, so if anybody's got ideas for that...

[M-Cohen 0]

Are you building a hockey complex? If so were?

[Crazy legs 0]

NY/NJ metro area

Hockey(ice,roller)Soccer,baseball, tennis, Volleyball

[M-Cohen 0]

Wow.

[Jason Harris 31]

This may sound obvious but the locker rooms need to be large enough to fit 15+ adults.

They opened the Apex Centre in Denver about four years ago to a lot of fanfare; I believe it's the largest community rec center between the Mississippi to the west coast. A few basketball courts, pools, weight room, meeting rooms, two rinks. Really nice architecture. All of the hockey players were excited, because it would be charitable to say the locker rooms of the rink it was replacing were petri dishes.

We had our first game there and our jaws dropped. The rooms are tiny. Guys are changing on the floor, on the bench (which is right outside the door -- that's pretty cool, by the way) AND in the bathrooms. They may have some of the best ice in Denver, but I know team captains who ask the league director to not schedule games for them at Apex.

[sonsplayhockey 0]

I'm very lucky to have alot of what you listed.

Here is where I play if anyone is curious.

http://www.thegardensicehouse.com

Check out the stats pages on the Adult Hockey Leauge page. Inline is pretty well organized. They get scores up by 9am the next day and stats are updated fridays by 11am.

Only issue this spring is the 2 rinks that are still ice are sand based (I think) and the lines are pretty well faded. They could stand for reconditioning them.

I actually hate the music as a player as It makes it harder for us to talk before the game about our lines (everyone shows up late).

Since the refs and the score keepers tend to get 10% of the goals or assists wrong, hate to have that shouted out or everyone will get pissed during the game when they dont get the credit.

Videos are rather difficult I think. If you have fixed cameras, it will not show much detail. Unless its overhead and you have a rich team to buy the tapes for analysis, its probably not going to be a big seller except for a rare novalty. However I know a couple guys who would have paid $10 for a tape review so they did not have to sit a 3 game suspention.

We're in a rather large metro area so to support such a place you need lots of activity. I hate to say it but without the figure skaters, the rink would not be able to support itself very good on just us cheap Ba$t*rds.

[troybruins89 0]

Here are a couple of my thoughts.

If scheduling figure skaters, allow for extra time to repair the ice before anything else is scheduled.

A full service pro shop and cafe can make a large difference in the overall impression, plus it goves mom something to do while the kids are playing.

A gym or workout center can also help draw income and give your facility/teams an edge.

Definatly on the figure skating thing. We have one of the best rinks around, but during the summer the ice is always hacked up by the figure skaters.

[hip check 0]

Salming just beat me to it. Gotta have rooms big enough to get a full team in without 'hot-racking' (one guy moves so another can sit down to get dressed). Enough clothes hooks, shower heads, etc. so you can get them in and out comfortably.

How about a freezer or fridge in the timekeeper's box to store pucks. Nothing worse than playing in the summer with pucks hot enough to melt the ice, bouncing around...

[Chadd 916]

This may sound obvious but the locker rooms need to be large enough to fit 15+ adults.

They opened the Apex Centre in Denver about four years ago to a lot of fanfare; I believe it's the largest community rec center between the Mississippi to the west coast. A few basketball courts, pools, weight room, meeting rooms, two rinks. Really nice architecture. All of the hockey players were excited, because it would be charitable to say the locker rooms of the rink it was replacing were petri dishes.

We had our first game there and our jaws dropped. The rooms are tiny. Guys are changing on the floor, on the bench (which is right outside the door -- that's pretty cool, by the way) AND in the bathrooms. They may have some of the best ice in Denver, but I know team captains who ask the league director to not schedule games for them at Apex.

The rink in York PA has the locker rooms right behind the benches and it's very convenient. Teams can come out on the bench during the ice cut and the coaches and refs can sign the score sheet off the ice, helping keep things on schedule a little better. On a Saturday with 10 games, that can make a big difference.

I think a good start would be to make matching jerseys and socks mandatory for all league play. One thing I can't stand is when teams show up with every guy wearing a different jersey- it looks like friggin' pick-up out there.

Hockey North America requires that for all of the teams in their leagues and it's a nice touch. We worked a deal with our rink where we basically gave them NHL style jerseys at close to our cost, just so the teams looked nice.

[LkptTiger 1]

Three things I like to see when I'm in another team's barn:

1) Good ice (by far the most important)

2) Dressing Rooms (big enough to be comfortable for a team of 20 guys, with plenty of hooks, so you're not hanging your pants, jacket, shirt and tie on the same one; enough shower heads to make post-game go smoothly)

3) Benches (nobody likes being crammed on the bench - we need space!)

[Bane 1]

Here you go in order

1. Good fiar refs, that know the game and mae consistent calls.

2. Well kept surface.

3. Working score board.

4. Proper ventilation.

5. Games on actual league day.

6. Updated and accurate website information ie. stats, game times

"music on stops of play" I personally find this item to be a waste. It serves no purpose to the game, and ends up just being a distraction.

[hockeydude_49 0]

I dont know if any of you have mentioned this yet, but the rinks gotta have really good lighting. Not too bright, but I've played in some pretty badly lighted rinks and I find that I play better in a bright rink.