What will be interesting is the costs to play hockey there for the youth of the east valley.
Now Jim Rogers is sinking 30K into the gilbert rink. I can tell you the ice has been terrible all year playing there. The ice is like velcro.
But all that really matters to me as a coach is the ice surface. If it's improved at Gilbert I will stick there.
The 3 million dollars in renovations at chandler will be recouped with higher fees to play hockey. At least that's what I would imagine.
I dont care about fancy restaurants or lobbies.
From what I can tell and from what I have read the ice will be much much much better.
I am sure many more people will eat 18 degrees than the old pizza place. The restaurant is great for viewing parties or a place for the players to go after or before a game (adult and youth players). I know when I played games at the original Ice Den I always got some food from the restaurant after the game.
The pro shop is way better than the karate studio that took up residence there when behind the mask left because polar ice raised the price of their lease. Just hope they teach the staff how to sharpen a damn skate! Chandler Polar Ice was the worst for skate sharpens in my opinion.
A Fitness studio could be used by moms that take their children to practice and want to get some exercise in. Or players that want a specialized routine with a trainer to improve their game.
It's also nice that some seating have been added to the what used to be called South Pole rink (or was it north). Wish I still lived closer to that rink.
I hope prices stay the same and the new owner recoups money just by operating a good rink and not by jacking up prices.
it will be interesting to see if Gilbert can retain any adult customers when Chandler re-opens)
