The Ice Sheet at Ogden, also known as the Weber County Ice Sheet, is located north of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

on the campus of

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

in Ogden. The Ice Sheet opened in 1994 as a recreational training center for

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

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 h ...

, and

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

. During the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

the Ice Sheet hosted the curling events. The Ice Sheet is also home to the

Ogden Mustangs The Ogden Mustangs are a junior ice hockey team based in Ogden, Utah. The Mustangs are members of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) and play their home games at The Ice Sheet at Ogden. Before joining the USPHL in 2020, the Mustangs ...

, a junior ice hockey team in the

United States Premier Hockey League The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States fielding teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), ...

and Weber State University's men's hockey team. The facility, owned by Weber County, has hosted several World Curling Federation-sanctioned events. The Ice Sheet offers local competitions, public skating, lesson programs, hockey, curling, figure skating and speed skating, ice shows, and includes a pro shop, conference rooms, locker rooms, and an outdoor terrace for meetings.

History

Following the passage of Utah's 1989 Olympic referendum, Ogden City submitted a proposal to the Utah Sports Authority and Utah's Olympic organizers to construct an Olympic-sized practice ice sheet in the city. On September 10, 1990, the Utah Sports Authority selected a site near the

Dee Events Center Dee Events Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The circular, 11,592-seat domed arena, similar in design to many of the era, opened in 1977 and was na ...

in Ogden as the site of an Olympic ice sheet, over other locations in downtown

and Provo, Utah. The property for the venue would be leased from Weber State University for 50 years at a cost of $1. A groundbreaking ceremony at the start of construction was held December 17, 1992. The facility was to cost $5.9 million, with $3 million coming from the State of Utah (as authorized in the 1989 Olympic referendum), $2 million from Weber County, and the remainder from private donations. Following the venue's completion, a two-day grand opening was held on April 2–3, 1994, which included performances by Olympian Scott Hamilton, and U.S. Champions

Todd Sand Todd Sand (born October 30, 1963) is an American pair skater. With his wife Jenni Meno, he is the 1998 World silver medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist (1995, 1996), and a three-time U.S. national champion (1994–96). With his previous ...

s and Jennifer Moreno. By the time it was completed the price had gone up to $6.2 million, it had seating for 2,000 spectators, and was in size. It was originally designed to be used for practice and preliminary competitions among ice skaters and hockey teams for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was later decided that the ice sheet would be used for

events, and on May 2, 1999, the ice sheet closed to replace the sand-based floor with a more efficient concrete floor. The sand-based flooring allowed freezing tubes to shift, causing uneven ridges in the ice. The new concrete floor was finished July 1999, and the ice sheet reopened for public use within weeks.

2002 Winter Olympics

During the 2002 games The Ice Sheet at Ogden hosted the curling events, which had been first introduced during the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

. The venue held about 2,000 spectators, and 96.7% of tickets were sold, with a total of 40,572 spectators witnessing events at the Ice Sheet.

References

External links

The Ice Sheet at Ogden
- Official website

- Facility profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Sheet Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic curling venues Sports venues in Utah Weber State University Curling venues in the United States Sports venues in Ogden, Utah Sports venues completed in 1994 Curling in Utah 1994 establishments in Utah