IceWorks is an ice
arena in
Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
,
Pennsylvania USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, 15 minutes southwest of downtown
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and 10 minutes northeast of
Wilmington,
Delaware. IceWorks Skating Complex opened in October 1997. The building consists of four ice surfaces, a full-service restaurant, and other amenities. Since opening in 1997, Iceworks has not updated its bathrooms or cleaning processes.
IceWorks is one of the only public rinks in the United States or Canada with a professional coaching staff.
Jim Watson, former
Philadelphia Flyer, leads the hockey staff along with the rink's General Manager Stephane Charbonneau. Uschi Keszler, coach of Olympic skater Elvis Stojko, leads a Figure Skating staff of 18 full-time coaches. Public skating is also offered for people of all ages.
It is also the training center of many national, international, world, and Olympic coaches and competitors, including being the host facility for the Liberty Open Summer Competition. This competition is the largest non-qualifying figure skating competition in the world and one that draws many national and international competitors. The IceWorks Skating Club has hosted many U.S. regional and sectional championships in its ten-year existence.
Olympic athletes
Tanith Belbin
Tanith Jessica Louise Belbin (born July 11, 1984) is a Canadian-American ice dancer and Olympic program host for NBC Sports. Though born in Canada, she holds dual citizenship and has competed for the United States since she began skating with Ben ...
and
Ben Agosto (USA), and
Oksana Domnina and
Maxim Shabalin
Maxim Andreyevich Shabalin (russian: Максим Андреевич Шабалин; born 25 January 1982) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. He and partner Oksana Domnina are the 2010 Olympic bronze medalists, the 2009 World Champions ...
(Russia) trained at the facility in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Belbin and Agosto are the first skaters representing the IceWorks Skating Club to win a world medal.
The rink is also notable for hosting
Neumann University's Men's and Women's ice hockey home games, as well as the home of the
Philadelphia Little Flyers
The Philadelphia Little Flyers are a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior ice hockey team from Aston, Pennsylvania. They play in the South Conference of the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) at the IceWorks Skating Complex
The players, ages 16–2 ...
junior ice hockey
Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...
team. The arena is also home to many junior hockey tournaments and international competitions in figure skating. Celebrity Boxing also holds events at IceWorks, including appearances by former Major League Baseball player
Jose Canseco.
The facility's main competitors are Ice Line in
West Chester, PA
West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...
, The Pond in
Newark, DE
Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Uni ...
, and Oaks Center Ice in
Phoenixville, PA
Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek and the Schuylkill River. It is in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population is 18,616 ...
.
IceWorks is also home to two Special Hockey International teams, the Philadelphia Fearless Flyers and the Bucks County Admirals. The Bucks County Admirals use IceWorks as their second home arena. Their first home arena is the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.
IceWorks was the host site for the
2012 United States Men's Curling Championship
The 2012 United States Men's Curling Championship took place from February 11 to 18 at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania, (with the host city being listed as Philadelphia). It was held in conjunction with the 2012 United State ...
and the
2012 United States Women's Curling Championship
The 2012 United States Women's Curling Championship took place from February 11 to 18 at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania (with the host city being listed as Philadelphia). It was held in conjunction with the 2012 United State ...
.
[http://www.usacurl.org/curlingrocks/images/Championships/Nationals/saturday21911.pdf ]
On January 24, 2009, IceWorks was the host of a celebrity boxing match between
Danny Bonaduce
Dante Daniel Bonaduce (born August 13, 1959) is an American radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce (''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', '' One Da ...
and
José Canseco that ended in a majority draw.
References
External links
IceWorksBucks County Admirals Website
Sports venues in Pennsylvania
Indoor arenas in Pennsylvania
1997 establishments in Pennsylvania
Sports venues completed in 1997
Indoor ice hockey venues in Pennsylvania
College ice hockey venues in the United States
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