Grand opening of Coon Rapids Ice Center

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by Peter Bodley
Managing Editor

United States Men’s Figure Skating Champion Ryan Bradley will headline the new Coon Rapids Ice Center grand opening celebrations tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 1).

Bradley will skate twice during the grand opening exhibition ice show from 6 to 8 p.m.

Before that there will be an open house and tours of the new ice center, as well as a chance to see Bradley and other skaters warm up from 4 to 5:15 p.m.

From 5:30 to 6 p.m. there will be a grand opening ceremony and dedications.

The grand opening events are free and open to the public.

Bradley, 27, won the 2011 men’s figure skating title and then retired from competitive skating.

According to Craig Scott, Coon Rapids Ice Center manager, Bradley now coaches in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is studying business at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and skates in ice shows and exhibitions.

Scott was in contact with a “friend of a friend” from his days working in Montana to bring Bradley to the ice center’s grand opening, he said.

The ice show in which Bradley will skate will be a revised version of the spring ice show – the last one at Cook Arena, Scott said.

Karen Meck, who has directed the Coon Rapids skating school for some 20 years, is producing the ice show, just as she did the spring show in April.

“The spring ice show was to mark the end of an era at Cook,” Scott said.

“This show will celebrate the future with the opening of the new facility.”

Besides figure skating the ice show will also feature a demonstration skate by Coon Rapids Youth Hockey Association Mites, Scott said.

Hockey and figure skating are the main users of the ice at the Coon Rapids Ice Center, he said.

Ryan Bradley, the 2011 U.S. Men’s Figure Skating Champion, who will headline the grand opening celebration of the new Coon Rapids Ice Center tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 1), began skating at the age of two.
Born Nov. 17, 1983 in St. Joseph, Mo., Bradley competed in pairs competitions with Tiffany Vase from 1996-98, including twice in the national championships.
But in 2001, Bradley decided to focus solely on singles competition in which he had had success early in his career, winning the silver medal at the intermediate level at the Junior Olympics in 1994-95 season, placing seventh in novice at the 1996-97 nationals, then winning the silver medal a year later after which he won the Triglav Trophy.
The following season, 1998-99, Bradley won medals in both events in the U.S. Junior Grand Prix, then took second at the junior worlds selection event to earn a spot on the U.S. team.
Bradley won the junior title at the 1999 national championships, then won the Gardena Spring Trophy.
Competing at the senior level in the 2000-01 season, he won his senior international debut in Zagreb and placed seventh in the 2000 national senior championships and in 2002 as well.
Breaking his arm, Bradley missed most of the 2004-05 season, but returned the next year to place eighth at the U.S. Championships.
Three weeks prior to the 2007 national championships Bradley cut his shin with his blade, but skated to second place and a silver medal, then went back on the ice and performed a back flip for the crowd.
A torn meniscus in his right knee in the off-season affected his 2007-08 season in which he was fifth in the U.S. Championships and was sixth in Skate America.
In the 2008-09 season, Bradley won the silver medal at Skate Canada, finished fourth in the 2009 nationals and earned a place on the 2010 U.S. World Championship team and finished 18th even though he broke the fifth metatarsel in his left foot.
Bradley was planning to retire from competitive skating but decided to resume training in mid-October 2010 and competed in the nationals earlier this year.
He won the short program and placed fourth in the free skate to win the overall competition for the first time in his career and earn a spot on the 2011 U.S. World Championships team.
In May, he announced his retirement from competitive skating.
He is currently studying business at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and is coach at the Colorado Springs World Arena. He is also a volunteer coach at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs.

“They have more in common than sometimes they think they do,” Scott said.

Since the new ice center officially opened for business Sept. 6, things have been going fine for the most part, according to Scott.

“There has been a moving in process,” Scott said.

But Scott has been very pleased with the quality of the ice and how the refrigeration system has been working, he said.

“We have had no complaints from the ice users,” Scott said.

Youth hockey, the skating school, public skating and captain’s practices for the Coon Rapids High School hockey team have been the prime users of the arena since it opened, he said.

Attendance is typically low for open skating at this time of year, but participation in the skating school, which began its fall classes this month, has continued to be strong, Scott said.

In fact, the skating school has maintained and even grown its numbers of participants during the recession, he said.

Besides the public, volunteers serving on city commissions, state and local officials, building contractors and representatives from the various hockey associations, conferences, school district and state and district hockey boards have been invited to the event.

Located at Coon Rapids and Crooked Lake boulevards, the new ice center has both regulation size indoor and outdoor skating rinks.

Amenities at the ice center include a much larger concession area with wi fi capabilities, a skybox for rent overlooking the indoor ice, party rooms for rent, conference and training rooms for rent, dryland training areas and state-of-the art scoreboard at both ends of the indoor rink.

The outdoor ice also has its own electronic scoreboard which makes the facility available for combined indoor and outdoor tournaments, according to Scott.

The concession area is staffed by ice arena employees, who are able to provide information as well as sell food and drinks, Scott said.

Steps from the entry way lead up to the spectator seating area, which is located on just one side of the arena and has more than double the seating that was found at Cook – 775 compared with 350, according to Scott.

There are also separate rooms for first aid and skate sharpening, which were not found at Cook, Scott said.

And the Coon Rapids Youth Hockey Association not only has office and storage facilities at the new ice center but also dryland training areas, he said.

The dryland training areas is available for use by the ice center’s figure skating program as well, Scott said.

There are more locker rooms than Cook and the gender issues raised by the Cook locker rooms have been eliminated, according to Scott.

And all locker rooms come equipped with showers, sinks and toilets, which was not the case at Cook, Scott said.

The skybox, party rooms and conference/training rooms are all available for rent, either for skating or non-skating events, he said.

Entry to the ice center is off Crooked Lake Boulevard, south of Coon Rapids Boulevard, by Walgreens as well as on 109th Avenue off Mississippi Boulevard.

The city acquired the property at Coon Rapids and Crooked Lake boulevards, on which the ice center has been built, in 2008 for more than $5 million.

The city has sold $13.5 million in tax exempt revenue bonds to pay for the arena construction as well as the land acquisition, plus $1,060,000 in taxable bonds for the property the city has acquired for future sale for private development.

The annual debt service on the bond sales of $978,100 was included for the first time with the 2011 tax levy.

But deducted from that amount was the $434,824 that the city had been levying the previous two years to pay for the acquisition of the Target property, which was financed internally.

That levy disappeared with the sale of the lease revenue bonds.

In December 2009, the council unanimously voted to construct the new ice arena to replace the existing ice arena, which was built in 1973 at 109th and Mississippi Boulevard, across from Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

Cook Arena is scheduled for demolition in October.

Peter Bodley is at peter.bodley@ecm-inc.com