The Daily Illini reported Monday that University Ice Arena has been closed since the beginning of the Summer, and this is causing ice sports teams and clubs to seek intermediate-term homes for practice and competition.
According to the article, “Sports affected by the closure include the University men’s and women’s hockey clubs, the synchronized skating club team and the regional speed skating club…. The lobby of the Ice Arena is currently being used as a COVID-19 testing site, and the ice of the rink has been melted down since the start of the summer.”
The University of Illinois announced before the academic year began that the Ice Arena would remain closed for the rest of calendar year 2020.
As with many arena closures in the less densely populated areas of the Midwest, alternative arenas for these organizations are relatively far away. Instead of University Ice Arena on campus, the Men’s ACHA Division II team is looking at tryouts and practices at Bloomington Ice Center in Bloomington, IL, an hour drive northwest of campus, or IceValley Centre Ice Arena in Kankakee, IL, an hour and 15 minutes north of campus.
RinkAtlas Arena Directory Updates
- University Ice Arena, we relocated the rink on the north side of East Armory Avenue rather than the south, we added alternative names to improve search, we added 1931 as the year it opened, the ice surface dimensions of 192 x 115 feet, which is 8 feet shorter and 15 feet wider than an Olympic surface, and we added the seating capacity, which is 1,200.
- Bloomington Ice Center, we renamed this arena from Pepsi Ice Center. We also updated the website to its new URL.
- IceValley Centre, we renamed this arena from OAK Orthopedic Sports Arena. We also updated the website to its new URL.