Score for Shawnee!

Story by Kari Williams | Photos by Katie Lewis

Interest in hockey has seen a gradual increase in the past decade, giving the Kansas City Ice Center an assist.

“The program has literally gone bonkers with hockey expanding in the United States,” says Tom Prendergast, KCIC’s adult hockey commissioner. “If we had another rink, it would get bigger.”

When Prendergast first moved to the Kansas City area in 1988, there were four adult hockey teams playing at King Louie West, which has since become the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center. Those teams then moved to what would become KCIC, he says.

“When Pepsi Ice Center West came online, more ice meant more teams,” Prendergast says of the nowdefunct Overland Park skating rink.

There are now more than 30 adult teams, according to Prendergast.

USA Hockey’s membership throughout the past 10 years has seen a similar, gradual increase. In its 2009–2010 season, the organization reported 474,592 members, and, in 2019–2020, it reported 561,700 (www.USAHockey.com/membershipstats).

KCIC has been a part of the Shawnee community for more than two decades, and in the nearly 10 years that manager Dean Nelson has worked at the center, class sizes and frequency have increased.

About 10 years ago, KCIC, 19900 Johnson Drive, started its Learn to Play Hockey program with 10 players and now has around 140. Today, there also is a greater emphasis on developing players, according to Prendergast.

“Back in the old days, you pretty much had to know how to skate and know how to play before you actually got on a team,” he says.

The Learn to Skate program also has seen an increase, which Nelson says has benefited the figure skating and hockey clubs.

Those programs, Prendergast says, provide an opportunity for children who have no prior experience to be introduced to the game.

“Nowadays, (you) have a much, much better way for kids to get into the sport and actually become proficient at skating before they put a hockey stick in their hand,” he says.

The Kansas City Stars youth club has between 400 and 450 players, while the adult league has about 350, Nelson says.

KCIC also hosts two “try hockey for free” events per year—once in February and again in November—in conjunction with its hockey association, KC Stars.

“It’s always in the top in the nation of kids coming out and trying hockey,” Nelson says. The most recent event drew 119 children, many of whom joined programs at KCIC.

The center also holds a winter classic tournament for its youth hockey league and spring and winter figure skating shows. Hockey remains the biggest draw for the center though, Nelson says, figure skating has seen some growth as well.

“Hockey is the one that has really exploded over the years,” he says.

He credited that to awareness and consistency.

“Half a million people come through our doors in a year,” Nelson says. “Having the programs available and having them consistent and running good programs at the same times are very important to people.”

For Prendergast, who also plays in the adult league, one of the draws is the flexibility of working around players’ schedules. The league also is about 20% women, he says.

“KCIC is in a pretty good place in regard to the city and where the hockey playing population is,” Prendergast says.

Prendergast coached the University of Kansas Hockey Team from 2006 to 2010 and stepped back on the ice himself after that role ended.

“My two boys were playing. I thought it would be fun to play with those guys. Back then I was probably 50,” Prendergast says. To step back on the ice as a player, he says he didn’t know if he could still play.

“It looks a lot easier on the outside of the glass versus the inside of the glass,” Prendergast says.

Before working with the adult league, Prendergast was KCIC’s rink manager and the junior blades president; he spent time at Pepsi Ice Center West, where he started KC Stars, and he also ran a high school hockey league.

KCIC owners added an outdoor pavilion in 2012, which Nelson says has given KCIC “drive-by” visibility from motorists on Johnson Drive, serving as a marketing tool.

“We’re getting large number of people saying (they) never knew there was an ice rink there,” Nelson says.

The outdoor pavilion—which is the size of a regulation NHL rink—is the center’s biggest draw, he says.

“Every sheet of ice that we can add to the area is going to grow the game and grow the participation,” Nelson says.

After adding the outdoor rink, public skate participation increased between 30% to 40% because, Nelson says, people wanted to “skate outside in the open air.”

Outdoor public skates typically brought in 150 to 200 people per twohour timeslot, Nelson says.

“We’re looking forward to when things start getting back to normal here with all of us and looking at bringing back those public skates,” Nelson says.

KCIC was among the businesses that shut down last March at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but, according to Nelson, returned with a “plan of action” to keep employees and customers safe.

“We went with small groups at first, and now we’re back to running pretty normal right now,” Nelson says.

They also assign seats to spectators, arrange locker rooms to be socially distant, and take temperatures at the door. Still, Nelson says they haven’t seen a significant decline in participation in youth hockey leagues.

“Most kids playing hockey still wanted to play hockey … we did it right, so the rink did it in a good way to keep it going,” he says.

Masks are required in the building, but not for players on the ice, though Prendergast says about 20% of the players still wear masks during games. Coaches, however, wear masks, along with students in the learn-to-skate classes.

KCIC’s biggest adjustment during the pandemic has been not holding public skate sessions though overall attendance has been steadily increasing, Nelson says. KCIC offers recreational skating and hockey for youth and adults, along with figure skating clubs. They are considering starting with online registration, but plans to bring back public skating still are a work in progress.

KCIC began offering an adult skate coffee club a few years ago, and it has continued during the COVID-19 pandemic since they have yet to bring back public skate sessions.

ADULT HOCKEY Adult A/B League Bob Klem C/D League Adult Z League 45+ Senior League Adult Women’s League

YOUTH HOCKEY Mini Mites Program Kansas City Stars Youth Hockey Club

TOURNAMENTS Bantam (under 14) PeeWee (under 12) Squirt (under 10)

LEARN TO Skate Play Hockey

FIGURE SKATING Synchronized Skating

PUBLIC SKATE Adult Coffee Club

Andrews McMeel University; Overland Park Regional Medical Center; Westport Flea Market; Hampton Inn–Shawnee; Hereford House; Lockton Courtyard by Marriott–Shawnee; Play It Again Sports; Kansas City Skin and Cancer Center; Sportsman Cap Network

19900 Johnson Drive

913-441-3033

www.KCIceCenter.com