Vegas rink

[sthomas]

We went to the rink on Karen Ave, or Commercial Ctr Dr., never sure which was the address, have no knowledge of any other rink in Vegas. Perhaps we're spoiled with rink in N. Colo., at least tiles are not cupped, broken in corners. While not immaculate, it is clean, in area suitable for families and kids. I don't know how any inline org could consider the Vegas rink suitable for a tourney, but perhaps being in Vegas is the important thing for some.

[PIHAGOALIE]

curious? what rink do you play out of? ODIES or JBS

[DannyG]

Having attended both the USAHIL Inline Cup tourney for the past seven years, and other tournaments in Las Vegas, I ask for your forebearance to address the issues brought up on this and other threads.

This situation, frankly, has to do with the "State of the Union" of our sport. All is not well, and we all know it.

The Crystal Palace, originally a wooden floor, USACRS roller rink, "went total ice" a couple of years ago. For years, the C.P. was the place to be...NARCh Winternationals, Six-Pac, USAHIL InLine Cup, and other national level inline hockey events all went there. It was a quality place, and yes, absolutely, it was in Las Vegas!

Without this facility, and no other taking up the slack, there has been a void in this respect. Las Vegas is with no equal as the place to hold adult national tournaments. It is also good for appropriately organized youth events.

When Dan C. started the "LV Roller Hockey Center" as a business a couple of years ago, high expectations were upon him to begin with. I am sure that Dan would like to have about a million dollars of the Maloof Bros. investment capital to really make his place shine. Small business is just that. I am sure that Dan is making what capital he has go as far as he can.

If you were going to start a rink, you need a floor, boards, benches, goals, scoreboard, and spectator seating. Obviously, all these items were procured for the LVRHC used, as is, from a variety of sources. There is no full time staff. The building was leased as is, where it is...

All this provides the minimal facility to play inline hockey. It ain't pretty...yet...and may not be for a while yet...

From my personal, on-site observation, the place improves every time I have been there. Like a good small business, it is constantly doing things to re-invest in structure and program improvements.

That is all I ask of the place. I choose to support this event, and indirectly the LVRHC, because, with my support, it will get better and better still. Without my support, it could become just another failed hockey joint. If we all do so, then the improvement we all seek will surely come.

I have played inline hockey airplane hangars, movie theaters, gymnasia, warehouses, stockyard barns, county coliseums, tennis courts, basketball courts, streets and cul-de-sacs, roller skating rinks, and my kitchen floor.

We might compare one facility to another, but to what end? I applaud Dan C. for his efforts to maintain roller hockey in Las Vegas. I believe if we offer our support of his events, he has shown he is not just "taking our money and running," but rather is reinvesting his profits to slowly-but-surely, make the place better.

Doesn't a "hockey guy" deserve our support? I choose to offer mine.

Thanks! Dan for all your hard work for our sport.

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>

[-venom-]

Dan's rink is slowly improving... he's been hard at upgrading all kinds of things throughout the rink.

give it some time, he'll do right with the place.

[JohnHockey1798]

Yes he is improving the place slowly but surly. I have seen it sice we started playing there. At least he is finally building new locker rooms because the old ones can be like saunas during the summer months. I hope he leaves them open roofs like the first Vegas rink i played at, the old Las Vegas Hockey Center. I have seen multiple rinks open but eventually close. The thing I have noticed is that the house leagues are not getting any more teams but losing teams. Some of that may have to do with the reffing situation and I will not get into that. I would love to see the rink succeed but if teams keep leaving that may not happen. I know I should not be talking like this but that is what I have observed.
At least we are starting to get tournments back in Las Vegas because we lost them there for a while. Then we need to start getting local teams to play in these tournments and get a Vegas travel team up and running. Maybe a way to help with this is to get the local ECHL team to start a youth street hockey league for kids that will get them interested in hockey then eventually roller hockey. I should be sending this infrormation to them but i heard from someont that they were going to do this and it never happened.
Let me stop ranting before this get to long. Thanks for reading.

John

Toga!! Toga!!

[DannyG]

just for the record, I play in what I believe to be the finest (single rink) inline hockey facility in the country, and therefore the world. Boards, floor, flooring, dressing rooms, lighting, scoreboard, pa system, spectator seating...all first-rate, top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art...

We must all, however, deliberately choose to support other hockey venues/ventures, because we are all all in this together, if for no other reason...

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>

[GROWL]

I must say that the rink in Colorado Springs was damn nice.

[DannyG]

yeah, if you're talking about that one with the restaurant, I agree...we ain't got a restaurant here locally...

<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>

[CoachFoo]

Though the surface is a little smaller then El Paso, The Tour arena in Colo. Springs is a better facility. Seating is much better, locker rooms are about the same, benches are better, and Tour has a score board on both ends. (And no, I'm not a fan of Jeff's.).
And besides, it's to D*#M hot to play in El Paso!

But El Paso is one of the better facilities.

Foo

[Troho9]

If we are changing the subject to "nice" rinks that Z-Rink in Conn. is by far one of the nicer inline facilities I have played in.

[PIHAGOALIE]

i did not want to belittle anyone when i started this post, i understand the demands and the hardships that we all go through. all i ask is that the small things be fixed, such as the toilets being able to work, trash being taken out when it is full. little things like that go a long way on how people view the building. hospitality goes beyond what a facility can give. certain issues do arise with the building its self but when you hear of refs offering children alcohol and other rif raf that can be ovoided that is where the bad views come in. and when people experience those incidents they wont look past the venue it just becomes another negetive aspect of the time you were their. i think we should all give the LV rink a chance but in doing so they to must show that they are professional about how they conduct the tourny on and off the court. with that being said i will leave it be. good luck to all those going to the inline cup this year. i will be there

[NLane]

Anybody remember the Hampton Roads Destroyers rink In Chesapeake VA? That rink was pretty new with great locker rooms but not much of a snack bar. Oh yeah, the beer.....

[MDE3]

Great facility up in Scranton Pa....at one of the Ice Box facilities (Ice Box North)...full Olympic size Sport Court floor(100' x 200')!!!!..and nice venue etc....and nobody comes to play, maybe 8 players for open hockey was the most we saw.....(at least I assume it is still an inline rink)..been a little more than a year since I was last there.

[sthomas]

My sons play at ODs, although some games are played at JBS since ODs has so many leagues going on. It was just a shock, more than anything else to have a National tourney (which we thought would be so nice) be such a pit.