Review: Best Rink You've ever played at?

[RICK NASHTY]

I've played in rinks from New York, to Ohio to Texas to LA and had my fair share of amazing rinks and ****holes. I want to hear what are the nicest/crappiest rinks you've played at.

For me my favorite would be the Toyota Center or the rinks at Chelsea Piers.

Click to read more...

 

[Primary Assist]

I definitely second the Toyota Center, and for Northern NJ rinks Aspen Ice in Randolph and Twin Oaks in Morristown are about as nice as they come.

 

[Bedards Dad]

Maple Leaf Gardens or Ricoh Coliseum

 

[ArcataShark]

Moda Center in Portland, home of the Winterhawks. Get to play next door again soon at the Memorial Center. It was a blast! But my favorite is still the home ice in Eugene at the rink exchange.

 

[STC]

Worst ice I ever skated on was the Chicago Stadium for the high school state championship game in 1988. Can't believe how soft and crappy the ice was. We would've been better off playing at a regular rink despite how cool it was to play at the Stadium.

Actually, I played on worse ice in 2013 when I competed in the Maccabei games in Israel. They have one rink, in the most northern part of the Country. The rink is actually 40 feet from the Lebanon border and you could hear machine gun fire coming from Syria from our hotel. Ice was so soft from the heat that they only did dry cuts with the zamboni. On top of taht it was international size which made it even more difficult to get up and down the ice.

best ice was at a place called the Bubble in Deerfield Illinois where I learned to skate. It was one of those temporary bubbles that stood for about 20 years. It was so cold in there the ice was fantastic, but as mites every kid in the locker room was crying when they took their skates off afterwards. Had to fill our skates with baking powder to help with the cold.

 

[BM14]

Played at Mastercard Centre.

Also skated at the ACC which was in unbelivable ice.

 

[Summer Rose]

Ice Den - Scottsdale, AZ is a really nice facility with good ice. It's got 3 sheets and is the Coyotes' practice facility. Played at Gila River Arena twice, the ice is really soft since they gave us a 1 p.m. ice slot the day of an NHL game and they didn't cool the building down for us and it was like 90 degrees outside. The ice felt like skating on a pillow.

Worst? Arcadia Ice Arena in Phoenix, AZ. Run-down facility in a bad part of town. Ice is okay in terms of hardness/glide but has some gouges, isn't level (overall mushroom shape), and the painting on the ice is trash.

 

[gswift]

Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto & Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.

 

[Nose Face Killah]

UMass Lowell's rink. The ice is so nice

 

[HockeyHistorian]

Best facilities: Hartwall Arena, Helsinki. Worst experience: this crappy barn with no insulation in -20 degrees Celsius weather.

 

[Goonzilla]

Never played hockey anywhere of note, but I did skate outdoors outside the Staples Centre Christmas before last which was pretty cool, albeit in rental skates. The climate at the time was pretty mild to say the least.

I would love to play/skate on a both a backyard rink and frozen lake at some point. Just something I wanna do. Will try and work it into a trip somewhere sometime.

I did see a ways back that you can rent Rogers Arena privately, which would be great to do as a one time thing with a bunch of people for a game of pick up..or any other major league arena that offers it.

 

[10coach*]

Never played hockey anywhere of note, but I did skate outdoors outside the Staples Centre Christmas before last which was pretty cool, albeit in rental skates. The climate at the time was pretty mild to say the least.

I would love to play/skate on a both a backyard rink and frozen lake at some point. Just something I wanna do. Will try and work it into a trip somewhere sometime.

I did see a ways back that you can rent Rogers Arena privately, which would be great to do as a one time thing with a bunch of people for a game of pick up..or any other major league arena that offers it.

Excel Energy Center regularly has open hockey for $20

 

[shoeshine boy]

don't remember the name but wherever the Brampton Battalion played back in 2005. that was some really good ice.
also played at Gwinnett Arena (home of ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators) because a friend is a minority owner which was awesome.
played at Philips Arena several times but that ice was always bad because we were playing AFTER NHL games.

worst ice was easily the old Eastland Mall in Charlotte. malls should never be allowed to have hockey rinks in the middle.

 

[Alfie#11]

don't remember the name but wherever the Brampton Battalion played back in 2005. that was some really good ice.

PowerAde Centre. That's also my "best place" experience as well. I played in the old Battalion rink (now Beast of ECHL). It's a multi-rink facility and I've played on a couple of them but playing on a rink with thousands of seats around you is very cool.

 

[PIMking]

Cedar Rapids Ice arena was a fantastic rink so is Germain arena in Estero Florida

 

[Shesty31]

Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid NY, simply because of the history.

 

[shootthegoalie]

Herb Brooks Arena (Olympic Center) at Lake Placid. Just skating in there, knowing the history of the place. Pretty cool.

 

[10coach*]

Officiating a college game at TCF Bank stadium was a pretty surreal experience.

 

[Mickaleen]

Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid NY, simply because of the history.

Im attending the Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp in LP next month. Cant freaking wait.

 

[STC]

Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid NY, simply because of the history.

Herb Brooks Arena (Olympic Center) at Lake Placid. Just skating in there, knowing the history of the place. Pretty cool.

I'll 3rd this. Went to CanAm hockey camp in Lake Placid in 1982, we got to skate out there for the final scrimmage. Pretty amazing being out there. Would love to go back.


Skated a couple times at the United Center in Chicago. Very good ice.

On the other hand, skated at Philly's arena after a NYRvsFlyers game and the ice was ****. Probably cause the pros just skated on it for 3 hours.

 

[Pez68]

The United Center is amazing. Second would be the BMO Harris Bank Center, home of the Rockford Icehogs. Cedar Rapids has a great facility too. Same with Notre Dame, Peoria, and Indianapolis.

Johnny's Icehouse has some of the worst ice I have ever skated on come summer time. Brutally bad, and borderline dangerous in some areas.

 

[RICK NASHTY]

I had a game at the Staples center after Kings played, the ice was complete crap like many have said after a game. Also a good amount of people got the mumps after drinking from the gatorade that was left on the bench after since this was right during the out break.

I also skated at MSG for a game, that was an easy check off the bucket list.

 

[PerpetualTankYear]

Gila River arena and Tims Toyota Center (In Prescott, AZ, former home of a CHL team) and whatever arena the Sarnia Sting play in are the nicest I've skated on.

But besides actual pro arena, the nicest "local" arenas I've played at are:

The Ice Den in Scottsdale. Amazing facility.

Westminster Ice Arena in Denver. Super cool set up, and really nice.

7 Bridges in Chicago. Again, very nice arena.

 

[STC]

I had a game at the Staples center after Kings played, the ice was complete crap like many have said after a game. Also a good amount of people got the mumps after drinking from the gatorade that was left on the bench after since this was right during the out break.
.

The way the Kings passed Paulina Gretzky around you're lucky all you got was mumps.

 

[Drrocket9]

San Jose Arena after a Sharks Penguins game. Waited for Jagr to finish a post game and when he walked by he laughed at us.

Awesome!

Thought the ice was pretty good and we did get an ice cut prior to our game.

I dont know the player reviews, but I loved it.