Aren'Ice, also known under the working name Centre national du Hockey sur Glace (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: National Ice Hockey Center), is a

multi-purpose arena A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

primarily used as an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

, located in

Cergy Cergy () is a commune in the French department of Val-d'Oise, in northwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated ...

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is both the

French Ice Hockey Federation The French Ice Hockey Federation (french: Fédération française de hockey sur glace (FFHG)) is the governing body of ice hockey in France, as recognized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 2006 after separation w ...

's national training center, and the home ice for professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise.

History

Following the separation of French ice hockey from the

French Ice Sports Federation French Federation of Ice Sports (or French Ice Sports Federation; french: Fédération française des sports de glace or ''FFSG'') is the national governing body for a number of ice sports in France. It manages completely different sports discip ...

in 2006,

Luc Tardif Luc Tardif (born 29 March 1953) is a Canadian-born French ice hockey executive, and former professional ice hockey player. A native of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, he played in the Quebec Junior A Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey L ...

, president of the new ice hockey federation, announced his plans for a federal training center based in the

Paris Region Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Various sites came under consideration throughout the selection process:

Cergy-Pontoise Cergy-Pontoise () is a New town#France, new town and an Agglomeration communities in France, agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise and Yvelines departments of France, departments, northwest of Paris on the river Oise (river), Oise. I ...

La Courneuve La Courneuve () is a Communes of France, commune in Seine-Saint-Denis, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. History Inhabited since pre-Roman times, the area is thought to have been a small village up through the Midd ...

( Parc de Marville),

Deuil-la-Barre Deuil-la-Barre () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the Department of Val-d'Oise and the arrondissement of Sarcelles. It is from the centre of Paris. Despite this proximity to the metropolis, Deuil has retained much ...

Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...

, Évry, Pays de Limours (

Fontenay-lès-Briis Fontenay-lès-Briis (, literally ''Fontenay near Briis'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Inhabitants of Fontenay-lès-Briis are known as ''Fontenois''. History The village of Fontenay-lès-Briis is ...

Marne-la-Vallée Marne-la-Vallée () is a new town located near Paris, France. Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, Val d'Europe, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, ESIEE Paris, and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée. Statu ...

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles (new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to ...

and Torcy.
Of these, Cergy-Pontoise, Deuil-la-Barre, Meudon and Évry already had an ice rink and ice hockey club. Marne-la-Vallée only had an outdoor recreational ice rink (which has since been closed) as part of

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

, and no hockey club. One of the resort's top executives in the 1990s was former hockey player

Pierre-Yves Gerbeau Pierre-Yves Gerbeau (born 16 October 1965, often shortened to P.Y. Gerbeau)P ...

, but a longstanding grudge with the French hockey brass of the time had made him unreceptive to promotional partnerships. At the tender submission deadline, the final candidates were: Cergy-Pontoise, La Courneuve, Drancy, Évry and Pays de Limours, with Cergy-Pontoise emerging as the victor. The building opened to the public on 4 November 2016, with an official inauguration ceremony on 19 November 2016 in presence of

Minister of Sports A minister of sport (or sports minister) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with sports. Minister of Sport may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism and Sports (Argentina) * Minister for Sport (Australia) * Minist ...

Patrick Kanner. Coincidentally, Cergy's old municipal ice rink, which dated back to 1974, was decommissioned. Through its various activities and entertainment offerings, Aren'Ice generated more than 200,000 admissions in its first year of operations.

Building

Aren'Ice was primarily designed by Chabanne et Partenaires, an architectural firm responsible for several other ice rinks including those in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

and

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.French Cycling Federation The Fédération Française de Cyclisme (''FFC'') or French Cycling Federation is the national governing body of cycle racing in France. The FFC is a member of the UCI and the UEC. In February 2009, David Lappartient was elected for a four-ye ...

National Cycling Center National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Construction cost €44,000,000 with the terrain provided by the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

of Cergy-Pontoise. The main hall, named Eclipse, features an olympic-size ice pad surrounded by stands seating 3000 in ice hockey configuration. Seats are heated by vents that maintain a 19° Celsius temperature.
The second hall, named Equinox, is a training and recreational venue featuring a second olympic-size pad and a small stand seating 320. The building also hosts in excess of 300 m² of office space. This includes the headquarters of the French Ice Hockey Federation, which moved there from

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called ''Isséens'' in French. It is one of Paris' entrances and is located from Notre-Dame Cath ...

upon completion of the facility. Although it was billed as "the largest ice rink" in France at its opening, this seems to be in reference to the fact that it consists of two Olympic size pads, whereas dual pad facilities built in France up to that point used a 56 × 26 metre or smaller second pad. The

Palais omnisports Marseille Grand-Est The , abbreviated as POMGE, is a multi-purpose arena primarily used as an ice rink, located in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. It is the home venue for ice hockey team Spartiates de Marseille. The complex also houses a skate park which, at ...

is the largest ice rink in terms of spectator capacity at 5,600 in hockey configuration, which excludes ice capable entertainment venues such as Paris'

Accor Arena Accor Arena (originally known as Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, and previously as AccorHotels Arena; also known as Bercy in competitions where commercial names are prohibited, such as in the Olympic Games) is an indoor sports arena and List of ...

, home of the

French Cup The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professiona ...

final.

Aren'Park

Aren'Park is a 22,000 m² commercial district adjacent to Aren'Ice, which opened in September 2018. In addition to a Leclerc

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including ...

, it features various stores operated by chains such as

Intersport Intersport GmbH is a French sporting goods retailer based in Bern, Switzerland. Its purchasing division is IIC-Intersport International Corporation. It has a presence in 5800 locations and in 65 countries. History In 1924, La Hutte company, ...

GiFi GiFi is a French discount chain with nearly 500 stores, mostly in France. It was founded in 1981 by Philippe Ginestet Philippe Ginestet (born 15 April 1954) is a French billionaire businessman, and the founder, chairman and owner of GiFi, a F ...

and

La Vie Claire La Vie Claire was a professional road bicycle racing team named after its chief sponsor La Vie Claire, a chain of health food stores. History The La Vie Claire team was created in 1984 by Bernard Tapie and directed by Paul Köchli. The t ...

.
An 84-room hotel, B&B Aren'Park Cergy, opened there in early 2019.

Student-athlete housing

In 2019, the community of Cergy-Pontoise and the French Ice Hockey Federation announced the building of a

student athlete A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

residence specifically geared towards French hockey prospects. Named Résidence Palet and located east of Aren'Ice, it consists of 28 units for 38 young athletes, 5 adults and 2 security staff members. Most residents will study at Lycée Jules Verne.

References

External links

Official website

Résidence Palet at ARPEJ
{{coord missing, France Sports venues in Val-d'Oise Indoor arenas in France Indoor ice hockey venues in France Sports venues completed in 2016 2016 establishments in France