York Ice Arena

November 15, 2021 – Mark Skehan. General Manager of the York Ice Arena, spoke at our weekly meeting.  Mark is a longtime city resident who previously operated Dressel Welding Supply, a longtime hockey coach, serves on the board of the York City Parks Conservancy and the city's Historic Architecture Review Board, and coached junior varsity baseball at York Catholic High School. The Memorial Park Ice Rink had provided public skating, figure skating and hockey programs for the York community in the years before the new complex was built in 2001. As local and national interest in ice sports began to grow, the demand for ice time increased. York County also saw a mass expansion into high school hockey. The existing ice rink was incapable of handling the surge and it became apparent that a premier facility was on the horizon for York. In October 2014, the York Revolution accepted the management role at the city-owned arena. Plans have been executed to continually improve the skating and recreation experience to benefit the patrons of the facility, the people of York County and the revitalization of York City. The YCRC continues to provide exciting new non-skating program through its partnership with the City of York. In 2020 an affiliate of Black Bear Sports Group, Inc. (“Black Bear”) entered into a management agreement to operate the York City Ice Arena in York, PA (the “Arena”). Black Bear is the largest owner/operator of ice rinks in the U.S., Black Bear has 17 facilities across the United States with 31 sheets of indoor ice, two indoor turf fields, seven youth hockey clubs and four Junior “A” hockey franchises in the United States Hockey League, North American Hockey League and Eastern Hockey League. The York Arena features two ice sheets, an athletic training gym, café, pro shop and a community room. The Arena is home to many figure skaters and youth hockey players in the area and, like many of Black Bear’s arenas. Mark invited the club for an onsite tour and meeting and