We came here for the Cheese Cup speedskating tournament on a Sunday morning. This is a huge ice facility, with 2 hockey rinks and a larger rink where the speedskating race was to be held. Coming inside, you see a decent sized lobby area. There's a large concession counter near the front too and the usual row of vending machines you find at these kinds of places.
Of all the ice venues we went to this year, this was definitely the coldest of them all. The seating area was frigid too, even higher up in the stands. The ice itself was in excellent shape throughout the race, with frequent resurfacing. However, this place has its share of problems. First, the zamboni goes in and out of an area that skaters have to pass through to get to the heat box area prior to a race. This means they have to be careful going back and forth. Most other venues have a separate hideaway for the zamboni that does not cross paths with the skaters.
The concessions were a huge disappointment. The overpriced sandwiches they make and sell are mostly bread with a little meat. And speaking of bread, they ran out of it by 1 PM and had to close up shop. They say they have soup on the menu but they had none on this day, which pretty much forced them to shutter the place though there were still 4 more hours of racing to go, plus hockey games at the other rinks.
From a comfort standpoint, they need more seating and tables for the skaters to hang out and warm up between races. The seating in the bleachers overlooking the rink is not the place to go if you are cold.
This is a nice building but it needs some refinement in accommodations inside. Without making wholesale changes to their facility I think they can learn from ice arenas like the one in Northbrook, IL that we visited the week before on how to make it a better ice arena. read more
