The Powhatan Ice Den is increasing its number of locker rooms as it grows its programming. (Courtesy Powhatan Ice Den)
A relatively new ice hockey rink in Powhatan is already in expansion mode, amid plans by its owner to build a larger facility in the region.
Powhatan Ice Den recently kicked off a project to add two new locker rooms to its 14,000-square-foot facility in the Oakbridge Business Park, which is near the Chesterfield-Powhatan line.
The expansion will add 700 square feet to the facility at 1580 Oakbridge Terrace, which has a 60-by-120-foot ice rink in a climate-controlled mezzanine.
Construction on the new locker rooms started in late June and is expected to be an eight-week project. Once completed, the Ice Den will have four locker rooms.
The project is being pursued to accommodate the upcoming launch of a co-ed hockey team for 5- and 6-year-olds and the Ice Den’s growing women’s club program, said Ryan Winfree, the facility’s general manager.
The new locker rooms will give the Ice Den more flexibility in how it allocates the spaces among men and women and different age groups as it juggles different programs. The Ice Den also holds clinics and leases the facility to the Richmond Generals youth hockey organization.
The locker room project is expected to cost a “few hundred thousand dollars,” Winfree said.
EDC is the project’s general contractor, and Freeman Morgan Architects was tapped to handle the design of the new space. Both firms participated in the construction of the overall Ice Den, which opened in the fall of 2021.
The project comes ahead of the fall launch of the co-ed team called the Polar Mites. It will be the first in-house youth team run by the Ice Den.
Winfree said the program is being introduced to fill the gap between introductory clinics for younger children and the Richmond Generals’ 8-and-under program, the latter of which Winfree said can be challenging for younger kids to play in.
“There usually isn’t a good transition from learning to play to just playing,” Winfree said. “For some of these 6-year-olds and 5-year-olds, they just get run over. There’s a skills gap there where the kids get scared off and don’t come back.”
Powhatan Ice Den General Manager Ryan Winfree. The facility features a 60-by-120-foot ice rink. (BizSense file)
For the inaugural season that starts in October, the Polar Mites will play against one another at the Ice Den, and won’t play against other local teams or travel. Winfree said the Ice Den has USA Hockey approval to run the team for a probationary term.
Winfree said the program will have space for 20 to 30 children. Pricing is still being worked out, but the tentative plan is to charge an annual registration fee to participate and players would provide their own equipment. The Ice Den has hired a paid coach for the team.
Also a factor in the facility expansion is a new women’s club, which plays pickup games every other week at the Ice Den and has proved popular. The club has more than 30 dues-paying members, though membership isn’t required to play. The paid membership comes with a jersey, clinics and other perks.
“We’ve seen large growth in that over the last two seasons,” Winfree said.
The Ice Den is owned by local hockey booster Fred Festa, who is also behind a plan to build a hockey facility with two NHL-sized rinks in Chesterfield County near the under-construction mixed-use development known as The Lake.
Festa, a retired chemicals industry executive, ultimately wants to bring a new minor hockey team to the region. Though the Chesterfield project would be suitable only as a practice facility, it is seen as a step toward realizing that goal.
Festa owned the Greenville Swamp Rabbits minor league hockey team from 2012 to 2018 and expressed interest in bringing a new hockey team to this area as part of the arena-anchored Navy Hill project that failed to move forward in 2020.
The Powhatan Ice Den is increasing its number of locker rooms as it grows its programming. (Courtesy Powhatan Ice Den)
A relatively new ice hockey rink in Powhatan is already in expansion mode, amid plans by its owner to build a larger facility in the region.
Powhatan Ice Den recently kicked off a project to add two new locker rooms to its 14,000-square-foot facility in the Oakbridge Business Park, which is near the Chesterfield-Powhatan line.
The expansion will add 700 square feet to the facility at 1580 Oakbridge Terrace, which has a 60-by-120-foot ice rink in a climate-controlled mezzanine.
Construction on the new locker rooms started in late June and is expected to be an eight-week project. Once completed, the Ice Den will have four locker rooms.
The project is being pursued to accommodate the upcoming launch of a co-ed hockey team for 5- and 6-year-olds and the Ice Den’s growing women’s club program, said Ryan Winfree, the facility’s general manager.
The new locker rooms will give the Ice Den more flexibility in how it allocates the spaces among men and women and different age groups as it juggles different programs. The Ice Den also holds clinics and leases the facility to the Richmond Generals youth hockey organization.
The locker room project is expected to cost a “few hundred thousand dollars,” Winfree said.
EDC is the project’s general contractor, and Freeman Morgan Architects was tapped to handle the design of the new space. Both firms participated in the construction of the overall Ice Den, which opened in the fall of 2021.
The project comes ahead of the fall launch of the co-ed team called the Polar Mites. It will be the first in-house youth team run by the Ice Den.
Winfree said the program is being introduced to fill the gap between introductory clinics for younger children and the Richmond Generals’ 8-and-under program, the latter of which Winfree said can be challenging for younger kids to play in.
“There usually isn’t a good transition from learning to play to just playing,” Winfree said. “For some of these 6-year-olds and 5-year-olds, they just get run over. There’s a skills gap there where the kids get scared off and don’t come back.”
Powhatan Ice Den General Manager Ryan Winfree. The facility features a 60-by-120-foot ice rink. (BizSense file)
For the inaugural season that starts in October, the Polar Mites will play against one another at the Ice Den, and won’t play against other local teams or travel. Winfree said the Ice Den has USA Hockey approval to run the team for a probationary term.
Winfree said the program will have space for 20 to 30 children. Pricing is still being worked out, but the tentative plan is to charge an annual registration fee to participate and players would provide their own equipment. The Ice Den has hired a paid coach for the team.
Also a factor in the facility expansion is a new women’s club, which plays pickup games every other week at the Ice Den and has proved popular. The club has more than 30 dues-paying members, though membership isn’t required to play. The paid membership comes with a jersey, clinics and other perks.
“We’ve seen large growth in that over the last two seasons,” Winfree said.
The Ice Den is owned by local hockey booster Fred Festa, who is also behind a plan to build a hockey facility with two NHL-sized rinks in Chesterfield County near the under-construction mixed-use development known as The Lake.
Festa, a retired chemicals industry executive, ultimately wants to bring a new minor hockey team to the region. Though the Chesterfield project would be suitable only as a practice facility, it is seen as a step toward realizing that goal.
Festa owned the Greenville Swamp Rabbits minor league hockey team from 2012 to 2018 and expressed interest in bringing a new hockey team to this area as part of the arena-anchored Navy Hill project that failed to move forward in 2020.
Fantastic. Let’s make Richmond a hockey town!
Amen to that! Tbh, Richmond is underrated as a hockey town. Several of my cousins all played in rec leagues back in the ’90s — lonnnnnnnng before the facilities that have been popping up, are under construction or are planned, were EVER envisioned. And even then, those rec leagues were robust, well attended and never lacking for pretty skilled participants. This has only grown across the metro region in the past 30 years, which to me is pretty impressive. That said, the build-out of multiple new rinks and facilities all around the metro give credence to RVA as a robust… Read more »