Ice Arena opens to public
Through donations and tax money, the George S. Eccles Ice Center opened on Jan. 1 and willoffer lessons and public skating to residents in Cache Valley.
Chris Ryan, rink assistant manager, said, “All the volunteers put in hundreds of hours to complete the rink for opening day.”
In the days leading up to the opening of the rink, volunteers contributed more than 200 hours of work, Ryan said.
The rink has two full-time employees, 25 part-time employees and numerous volunteers.
Ryan said, “We expect up to 200 volunteers for the Olympics.”
The new ice center will be a central location for people to go and have fun said Paul Amidon, a USU senior in marketing and the captain of the USU hockey club team.
“[It will be] perfect for a college date. Sick of the movies, going bowling? Go to the rink and skate,” he said.
The ice arena drew close to 900 skaters on opening day. The rink will have many public skating sessions and times until the Olympics, when times will fluctuate, Amidon said.
The Ice Center has drawn much attention for the fluctuations in unexpected construction costs and set backs, which have been overcome to open as scheduled, he said.
Ryan said due to tighter security across the country, the ice center has acquired metal detectors from the North Logan Police Department. Everyone entering the ice center will have to pass through the metal detectors and are subject to searches. The arena will be having volunteers from all the valley police departments. The Preston Police Department will also be sending an officer to help out with security., he said.
According to a flier from the ice center, the USU hockey team will be playing their last games in the arena. A game will be held Jan. 23 against Weber State. Up until this year, all of USU games vs. Weber have been sold out. Tickets can be purchased for the game either at the ticket office located in the Spectrum or at the ice arena. The ice center has the capacity to hold 1,000 spectators. The team and the arena are hoping to fill the stadium at every game. Thirty percent of the profit from the game will go toward the Ice Center and the other 70 percent goes toward the hockey team’s budget.
The official grand opening of the George S. Eccles Ice Center will be held on Feb. 12, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. The program is called Fresh Ice and will be a collection of local talent participating in a choreographed presentation. Every type of skater will be participating in the program. The hockey team will also be doing a presentation during the show according to the flier from the ice center.
The rink will be open to the public for skating every day from 12 to 2 p.m. and then from 6 to 10 p.m. every day except Sunday. The rest of the time will be used for team practices and lessons.
Jordan Jensen (left) and Ozzie Miranda race the 200 foot length of the George S. Eccles Ice center. (John Zsiray )