NOV/DEC 2014STARRINKS.COM | RINKMAGAZINE.COM

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F

6BAD SANTA: THE PERILS

OF SPECIAL EVENTSTIPS OF SUCCESSFUL SKATING PROGRAMS

NASHVILLE, FORD ICE CENTER

FEEDING TENNESSEE’S

GROWING APPETITE

6

The city of Nashville has been synonymous with two things: barbecue and country music. In 1998, a new act joined the scene

when the NHL’s Nashville Predators took root in the Music City.

At that moment, “Smashville” was born.Since then, hockey and skating have

been as well known as honky-tonk. The newly constructed Ford Ice Center pro-vides the perfect venue to serve the local hockey appetite.

“There’s so much pent-up demand for hockey here,” said Ford Ice Center hockey director Craig MacDonald. “As word started getting out about the new Ford Ice Center, all of a sudden you start hearing about people who, before, weren’t being served geographically and they want to get back into hockey.”

Ford Ice Center is a 90,000-square-foot building just 11 miles outside of Nashville in the suburb of Antioch. Officially opened in September 2014, it’s a facility that breathes life into the community.

“The community needed this,” said Danny Butler, general manager of Ford Ice Center. “We’re incredibly excited to bring it to them and to be a part of it.”

Rink Revitalization Ford Ice Center sits on an old mall prop-erty in Antioch. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the mall produced plenty of tourists and traffic south of downtown Nashville.

“When the mall died off, the area did, too,” Butler said of the former Hickory

Hollow Mall. “But I’ve been out here since January (2014) and you can already see the impact the arena is making on the town. Restaurants are starting to remodel and people are buzzing around the area.

“It’s a town that desperately needs some-thing and is an area that needs a little help. That’s what we’re proud to be a part of.”

Ford Ice Center is just one component of a public-private partnership between the Nashville Predators and Metro Nashville Government. The intention is to not only grow hockey in the nontradi-tional area, but also create an experience unique to the community. Along with the rink, a library, recreation center and 6-acre park are included on the property that is under a 25-year lease.

“The community couldn’t be more

excited to have this (property) in Antioch,” Butler said. “It’s going to be a kick-starter here and it brings a smile to their eyes to know that this community is really start-ing to turn around.”

In High DemandThough Nashville is a nontraditional skat-ing and hockey market, that hasn’t slowed the need for ice time.

“The absolute demand is there,” said Butler. “We have 18 high school teams that expand every year, the Junior Predators organization has seven to eight teams expanding every year, and there are plenty of travel teams always looking for ice.

“After you leave Nashville, the closest rink is 100 miles away, so we are able to help that.”

16 / NOVEMBER.DECEMBER.2014 RINKMAGAZINE.COM

Ford Ice Center Growing Hockey in Middle Tennessee // by JESSI PIERCE

Featured Rink Ford Ice Center | | Nashville, Tenn.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF FORD ICE CENTER

Nashville

STARRINKS.COM NOVEMBER.DECEMBER.2014 / 17

,“There’s so much pent-up demand for hockey here. As word started getting out about the new Ford Ice Center, all of a sudden you start hearing about people who, before, weren’t being served geographically and they want to get back into hockey.” -Craig MacDonald, Hockey Director

Before the Predators moved to the area, there was only one two-sheet facility in Nashville. Another two-sheet rink was built in the early 2000s, but it still wasn’t enough.

“The (hockey) market blew up,” said Butler, attributing it to both the growth of Nashville and the popularity and success of the Predators. “But they still only had four sheets of ice.”

Ford Ice Center brings two NHL-size rinks to town. It’s complete with eight locker rooms, four party rooms, an upstairs ballet room, a yoga studio, a proshop and a concession stand that Butler says is more of a restaurant. Heaters keep both sets of bleachers extra warm — a “must-have for the Southern folks” — and a full dehumid-ification system pulls moist air out rather than a simple air conditioner, creating bet-ter ice. Ford Ice Center is also very cost-efficient. It is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-

certified building.“Really it’s the whole package,” Butler

said. “And I believe it’s going to see a lot of success.”

Big-Name AttractionOlympic figure skating gold medalist and hall of famer Scott Hamilton has become a familiar face at Predators games. He set-tled in the suburbs of Nashville a number of years ago and quickly became a season-ticket holder at Bridgestone Arena. With the announcement of Ford Ice Center’s opening, Hamilton wasted little time get-ting involved. He brought in silver medal-ist Bill Fauver as the academy’s skating director and the pair will focus on making Scott Hamilton Skating Academy a very grassroots effort.

“It’s going to be a program that just kind of makes skating fun again,” said Butler. “Skating lost its edge, it seems, and

(Hamilton and Fauver) want it to go back to when they were kids and it was fun.

“They are going to slowly build a grass-roots skating academy to bring people out who haven’t skated before.”

Ford Ice Center also brought in big names from the hockey side. With its direct relationship with the Predators, Ford Ice Center hosted the team’s pros-pect camp, which included a tourna-ment with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers. The tournament drew large crowds for the September grand opening.

“We had our ribbon-cutting along with free public skates and free learn- to-skates,” Butler said. “We really had a festival atmosphere and then we jumped into games with some of the best rookies in the league.

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“You couldn’t ask for better support that what we’ve been given thanks to our relationship with Scott (Hamilton) and the Nashville Predators.”

Not a Country Club Type of RinkWith big names like Hamilton, Fauver and the NHL’s Nashville Predators, Ford Ice Center could easily be viewed as a high-end facility. It’s a state-of-the-art arena with high ceilings and giant foyer. It gives off a highbrow look and feel — but Butler said that’s not their purpose.

“We have the opportunity to be more of a country club ice rink, but that’s not what we want at all,” said Butler. “We want to be able to touch people that have never skated before. We want to bring in all of the people who have never had any-thing to do with (hockey or figure skating) before. We really want to be that grass-roots to grow the game.”

Ford Ice Center has one of the cheapest learn-to-skate programs in the city. In addi-tion, the arena offers $50,000 in scholar-ships each year for youth and adult leagues.

“We want to give those who need it the help they need and give them the real oppor-tunity to play,” Butler said. “That’s our phi-losophy — to be as grassroots as possible.”

Along with attracting young, begin-ning players, Ford Ice Center will strive to reach adults who have never played before. Get Out And Learn (G.O.A.L!) programs will reach both adult and youth players and Ford Ice Center will be home to at least five different adult leagues, most focusing on the C- and D-level players.

“Some people here (in Nashville) played hockey maybe 10 years ago and see this brand-new facility as an opportunity to get back in the game,” MacDonald said in a Q-and-A with USA Hockey. “One of the things I’ve seen is dads sign up and learn to play just so they can be on the ice with their kids … In the end, everyone out there, experienced or not, is there to have fun. That’s what we want to provide.”

It looks like Ford Ice Center is adding a new note to the Music City. J

SPECIAL FEATURES: 2nd floor overlook; 2nd floor lounge

area; yoga/ballet studio; 4 party/meeting rooms (seating for

50 each); 2,500 square feet of off-ice training space, including

3 shooting lanes with synthetic ice, cardio equipment and

dryland training space; 2 dedicated rooms for Jr. Predators

and Vanderbilt hockey; 2,000-square-foot pro shop run

by Perani’s Hockey World; attached to

a 6-acre park; a 32,000-square-foot

recreation center and 26,000-square-foot

library that are part of the overall campus

TENANTS: Vanderbilt Hockey,

Middle Tennessee University

Hockey, Jr. Predators, Scott

Hamilton Skate Academy

2014YEAR OPENED

RINK BREAKDOWN

ICE RESURFACER: TWO ZAMBONI 546s

REFRIGERATION SYSTEM: Pace/Gateway – Glacier Arena

Package: Model GAP-225-S

, Continued from page 17

90,000 SQUARE FEET

2

200' x 85'

NHL-SIZE RINKS

TYPES OF RINK FLOOR

CONCRETE $250/hour

8 LOCKER ROOMS

ICE TIME

LIGHTING IN ARENA: T-5 Fluorescent

550 SEATING

CAPACITY

(NORTH RINK)SOUTH RINK: 300

FUN FACT: Home to the Scott Hamilton Skate Academy

Perani’s Hockey World

Junior Predators

Featured Rink Ford Ice Center | | Nashville, Tenn.