What do you look for in a rink?

[Miike 1]

Big rooms where you have A LOT OF PLACE to put on your equipment.

Sure, the quality of the ice goes at first but big rooms are always nice to have.

I cant agree more with you, Theres some rinks that the dressing rooms are smaller then my bedroom. They're so tiny!!! People are litterally touching shoulder to shoulder. I like some of the rinks we play in have indivdual lockers, which is nice and you have your own space.

[hockeydude_49 0]

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

The proshop they're putting in the new arena out my way is only selling like "Flarrow" stuff. Im really hatin' it. I find it stupid.

One of the rinks in my area has a pro shop like that too, only sells Harrow, used to only have Branches, but last year switched to Harrow.

[Miike 1]

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

Seriously...that's rad.

Lol that is, The only place i've had a national anthem before a game is, we were in a tourney in St. John, NB and before the gold medal final they played the CDN Anthem.

[hockeydude_49 0]

Blowdryer in a hockey locker room, you have to be kidding.

Hey, when it's -35 degrees Celcius you want that hair dry when you go from the rink to the car.

I carry a heatgun in my bag all the time...not necessarily for changing blades, but we practice outside in temps down to 10 below and its always nice to have a heatgun to heat your toes up in the warming house after practice lol.

[Miike 1]

Blowdryer in a hockey locker room, you have to be kidding.

Hey, when it's -35 degrees Celcius you want that hair dry when you go from the rink to the car.

I carry a heatgun in my bag all the time...not necessarily for changing blades, but we practice outside in temps down to 10 below and its always nice to have a heatgun to heat your toes up in the warming house after practice lol.

Yea i carry a heat gun in my bag for like ever, because everybody on my team always needs one to change blades etc... but i also use to dry some stuff out during tournaments when you play like 2-3 games a day, and you cant dry it out.

[Squirrel 0]

Awesome ideas everyone!

To answer the question above about location, right now it's all about finding suitable land for the complex. I wish I could tell you more, but I'm not the guy with the $$$ or the lawyers. Just a hockey player involved in the design for the hockey side of things, and want to have a player freindly rink. I'll keep everyone posted as soon as I get the information

I forgot to mention, when you get your vending machine for the arena don't forget to put it in the lobby and not rinkside. I know its probably not important but just a tip so the food wont get frozen or stale. B)

[Jason Harris 31]

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

The proshop they're putting in the new arena out my way is only selling like "Flarrow" stuff. Im really hatin' it. I find it stupid.

Some of the manufacturers have high minimums for each order, or at least for the opening order. I've heard as much as $5K, although maybe a retailer could correct me if I'm wrong.

In any event, if you have a small pro shop that is just getting started, it's tough to be able to afford to carry the more established names, since it eats too much into your startup capital.

[Jason Harris 31]

I forgot to mention, when you get your vending machine for the arena don't forget to put it in the lobby and not rinkside.  I know its probably not important but just a tip so the food wont get frozen or stale.  B)

The shop at the rink where I usually skate put accessories into a vending machine, since he's not always open. He said it's working for everybody; he's making more money, while the players can get laces late at night.

[kosydar 0]

I've seen that with tape in it too. Its a very nice luxury to have.

[A_Steeves12 0]

big dressing rooms is a must in my books. a proshop with a good guy that know what hes doing when it comes to skates(i wish my rink had a guy like this) good ice too is a must.

when they where doing the renovations on my rink they where totalty re-doing everything and for dressing room we basicly had a little box made of plywood with a tarp for a room it was hell especially during tryouts but now that its done it came out really nice im glad to call it my home rink.

[Jason Harris 31]

when they where doing the renovations on my rink they where totalty re-doing everything and for dressing room we basicly had a little box made of plywood with a tarp for a room it was hell especially during tryouts but now that its done it came out really nice im glad to call it my home rink.

Has anybody played in the tournaments in Vegas?

I think the rink was called the Crystal Palace, but nothing can have worse locker rooms than this place. They were two forty-foot trailers outside that were split in half with two showers added to each end.

There was only enough room for one person to go up or down the ramp at a time. In one of the "rooms, " the showers didn't work but, even worse, I was taking a shower in another room when all of the sudden the cold water cut out. I just about scalded and had to wait for two other guys to use the other shower before I could rinse off.

We had a game at 5:45 PM, it was about 80-85 degrees, and they had maybe two windows for cross breeze, so one of our guys said, "Am I supposed to be sweating while putting on my equipment." This was in March, so I replied, "Can you imagine what this place would be like in July? I guarantee you'd actually look forward to the late games."

[kosydar 0]

Two of my friends went to a showcase down there last summer and said that those locker rooms were complete hell. It was over 100 every day they were there, I can't even imagine how hot the locker rooms got.

[#1STUD 0]

Ok... I dont know if this has been said yet or not but, make sure that it is competitve for all ages. It's not fun for anybody when there are a couple strong teams that can blow away anybody. That is what usually happens around here. To solve this i would suggest having a skills competition for all players in every league before the first season starts. Then assign to players to a team based on skill to make it even. After your first season you should only have to do it to the knew players that are coming in.

[Dangles 0]

I've seen that with tape in it too.

The vending machine at my rink has ice wax in it too.