Pushing to regain home ice

COEUR d'ALENE - Matthew Creighton wants to lace up his skates closer to home again.

The 16-year-old goalie took a year off from hockey this year because of the constant road trip he'd been on since the local ice rink collapsed in December 2008.

Last year, Creighton packed his stick, mask, glove, pads and jersey and drove to Spokane every time it was time for the puck to drop.

This season, the back and forth was too much to ask.

"It was too much hassle," the Lake City High School junior said. "Too much gas, too much school, just too much of everything."

So Creighton took the season off, and it's killing him.

"I miss it bad," he said.

But the Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization is close to giving Creighton - and thousands of other local skaters - home ice advantage back to the locals.

Again.

After nearly three years of hard work, dedication, and headaches since its old building collapsed from heavy snowfall in December 2008, KYRO is ready to open its new state-of-the-art skating facility by Aug. 1, just in time for next season.

It needs a little help getting there.

"We just need to close that gap," said Vince Hughes, KYRO president, on the final pieces needed to put the ice-less hiatus officially behind the nonprofit. "It's something we feel we can do."

What's needed is a power play of community support - up to $800,000 to ensure North Idaho has a rink that not only keeps local skaters home, but provides a draw for out-of-towners, too.

"We know we can't do it ourselves," said Matt Beam, KYRO manager. "We're going to have to incorporate a lot of community partners."

Despite the long road getting here, progress has been steady.

The $2.8 million, 34,000-square-foot facility is going up near the old site off Seltice Road between Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls. The new design has a slew of amenities the old building didn't, such as a professional-sized 200-by 85-foot rink, and the infrastructure in place for another rink next to it should demand call for it in the future.

It could seat up to 500, 200 more than the old one, with a heated lobby area where spectators can watch the skaters through big windows while staying warm.

Everything the old 27,000-square-foot facility had will be outdone by the new one. More locker rooms, more energy efficient with less maintenance required, more restrooms, party rooms, and parking spaces. It will even have a trailhead at the parking lot for the public to access the adjacent Centennial Trail.

"We wanted to make sure we didn't build a facility that in five years we'd be kicking ourselves, saying 'gee, we should have made it bigger," Hughes said. KYRO received a $2 million insurance settlement. "We didn't want to be put in that position."

That's because the old facility, described as a "closed-in pole barn," handled 2,000 visitors a week. As North Idaho's only skating rink, those numbers could skyrocket with the new facility.

Since the old rink collapsed, it wasn't just skaters who suffered, but nearby businesses too.

The Holiday Inn Express reported a loss of $20,000 from rooms not rented after the collapse since tournaments weren't being held there.

Back-to-back record-breaking snowfalls crushed the old building at the end of 2008. After getting the settlement, KYRO went to work, only to find out later that a portion of their property was inside Coeur d'Alene city limits. That required KYRO, a nonprofit formed in 2000 to save North Idaho's only ice skating facility, to de-annex the sliver of property and put it in the county.

That step caused Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency, Lake City Development Corp., to hold off on whether it could pledge up to $200,000 on the public portion of the design - the parking lot and Americans with Disabilities Act compliant trail head to Centennial Trail. That pledge could be decided this spring, so the $800,000 shortfall could drop to $600,000.

Still, after all that, KYRO is ready to finish the drive.

Between $300,000 to $500,000 should get the building opened by August. What isn't covered it will open without.

No small task, but it's ready for the challenge ahead.

KYRO's forming a fundraising committee to help get word of its mission across the area by hosting presentations. It's exploring all fundraising options, including naming rights to the area it hopes draws, schools, churches, recreationists, skaters, tourneys and teams from all over.

Not to mention, a little home ice time for hockey players who have been on a road trip for a year or two.