Latest Info on Bird Ice Arena Closure

UPDATED DECEMBER 20, 2024

Ohio University has announced that Bird Ice Area will reopen January 2nd! Ice preparation utilizing a temporary rink mat is underway and nearly complete, and the rink paint is being applied to the ice. See the official statement regarding the reopening of Bird Ice Arena below.

The original estimate provided by the University was that the rink might reopen no earlier than January 16th. While we are thrilled everything went perfectly with the temporary repairs and that the rink is opening two weeks earlier, some of our teams made arrangements to have home games at alternate offsite rinks for the month of January in case things did not go smoothly and there were unexpected delays.

Please note that ice contracts for games and practices at other rinks typically require 30-to-45-day cancellation notices. If your team has a game or practice scheduled within the next 30-to-45-day period and tries to cancel it, the AYHA will still be required to pay for that ice time and referees whether it gets used or not. Due to much higher expenses of renting ice and scheduling referees at offsite rinks for the first three months of the season, the AYHA cannot afford to forfeit fees for offsite rink reservations, while reserving Bird Ice Arena ice time and referees on top of that.

The AYHA Board of Directors have worked overtime to provide alternatives to Bird Ice Arena for games and practices over the past three months. Ohio University has been gracious enough to provide the Association space in Ping Center for dryland training, and the Association contracted for dedicated ice time at the Mastodon Ice Arena for October, November, and December for all of the travel teams. Our coaches have done tremendous work to teach and train our players without ice, and we are grateful for all their efforts.

As many of families have heard over the past three months, finding offsite ice for designated home games has been challenging the past three months due to the high demand for ice and the relatively limited number of available rinks statewide. When available, the offsite rinks have been significantly more expensive to reserve than Bird Ice Arena, whose fees are subsidized in large part by Ohio University as compared to other rinks. For example, Ohio University currently allows the Association to reserve ice for $180 per hour, while Chiller rinks in Columbus are approximately $360 per hour. Unfortunately, there has been no available ice at the Chiller rinks due to high Columbus demand, and AYHA teams have been forced to look further out towards Cincinnati and Dayton, where some rinks such as South Metro Sports change over $400 per hour, not including referees. Even the Mastodon Ice Rink charges $260 per hour to provide the small practice ice for our teams.

The Board of Directors has been actively managing the 2024/2025 budget to cover these significantly higher ice costs to date, and they will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the season as our teams return to Bird Ice Arena.

Regular practices will begin the week of January 6th. Registration payments for all 8U players that had been suspended for the months that Bird Ice Arena was closed will be resumed for January. Each 8U player’s 2024/2025 season fees will be prorated to match the time the team is back on the ice, with partial refunds applied for the lost practice time as necessary. During the last week of December, the new website's schedule will be updated with the practice days and times for our Mites.

Bird Ice Arena is scheduled to open January 2nd, which is a Thursday. As Thursdays are one of the regularly scheduled practice nights for the 14U team, they will be able to take advantage of that first evening of ice. Starting the week of January 6th, the 14U team will begin its normal full weekly schedule, which will be posted in late December on the new website's schedule. Dryland sessions at Ping Recreation Center and weekend practice ice at the Mastodon are discontinued for the remainder of the season.

Starting the week of January 6th, the 10U, 12U, and High School teams will begin their normal weekly schedule, which will be posted in late December on the new website's schedule. Dryland sessions at Ping Recreation Center and weekend practice ice at the Mastodon are discontinued for the remainder of the season.

Home games for D1 and D2 resume January 10, 2025!   Home games are scheduled every Friday and Saturday night between January 10 and February 16, so please find time to support our college teams, who have had a lot of early morning and late-night travel to find limited practice ice. Please visit the Ohio Bobcats Hockey website for more information.

The temporary mat system is by definition temporary. Ohio University recognizes that this mat is ten years old, and that it is not intended to be a permanent solution to the complete failure of the existing concrete rink floor. The only permanent option is to completely remove the 1990 rink (and the original 1958 asphalt one below it) and lay a brand-new concrete floor. It is the Association's understanding that Ohio University is evaluating the availability of funding to make the permanent repairs as well as determine when the repairs can be scheduled. We certainly hope this can take place over Summer 2025, but no decisions have been publicized by the University at this time.

Why couldn't we find alternate rinks and available ice time for practices the first three months of the season?

All other rinks in Columbus, Newark, and Charleston, West Virigina are booked solid. Ice is in such demand in Columbus that you may routinely see as many as four or five different Blue Jackets Hockey League teams sharing one sheet of ice, while independent youth hockey associations in Columbus schedule the ice slots that are left over. What ice is available in Columbus, Newark, and Charleston during the week are at odd times, such as 10pm or later. Clearly, our youth players could not start practice during a school week at 10pm, get off the ice at 11 or 11:30pm, return home around 1:00am, and be ready for a 7:00am school bus. Weekends at these rinks are booked solid with local youth games, high school games, public skates, learn-to-skate / learn-to-play programs, and a thriving series of regional and national youth hockey tournaments. 

Can my 8U youth player receive a partial refund for the lost practices at Bird Ice Arena?

Yes. Because traveling to Columbus rinks is not an option for any of our teams, and because of the time involved for travel to and from the Mastodon Ice Arena is too much to justify for one hour of practice each weekend for our littlest hockey players, all payments for all 8U players are suspended for the months that Bird Ice Arena is non-operational. Once the AYHA knows exactly when the arena will open again, each 8U player’s 2024/2025 season fees will be prorated to match the time the team is back on the ice.

Can my 10U/12U/14U/High School player receive a partial refund for the lost practices at Bird Ice Arena?

No. Because the AYHA has committed to reserving ice time at Newark’s new half-size Mastodon Ice Arena for the travel teams, and because that ice time is much more expensive than what Ohio University charges (on average, ice in Columbus is twice as expensive per hour), the portions of the players’ registration fees set aside for ice time at Bird during the closure are instead being used to reserve ice at Mastodon as well as reserve ice for games at offsite rinks.