Wentzville Ice Arena is an arena and recreational sport facility located in

Wentzville, Missouri Wentzville is an exurb of St. Louis that is located in western St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 44,372, making it the 15th largest city in Missouri. Wentzville has been the f ...

and owned and operated by the City of Wentzville Parks & Recreation Department. It served as the home for LU

Lindenwood Lions The Lindenwood Lions and Lady Lions are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the ...

Men's and

Women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

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 ...

teams and LU

synchronized skating Synchronized skating is an ice skating sport where between 8 to 16 skaters perform together as a team. They move as a flowing unit at high speed over the ice, while performing elements and footwork. This complex sport originated in 1956 and was ...

team until relocating to the newly built

Centene Community Ice Center The Centene Community Ice Center is a multi-purpose facility in Maryland Heights, Missouri in greater St. Louis. It is located off Highway 141 near Hollywood Casino St. Louis and the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. Built at a cost of $83 million, ...

It features two NHL-size sheets of ice for

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 me ...

and open skating, and local high school hockey. Other features of the arena include eight locker rooms, heated bleacher seating, and concession stand. Current capacity for spectators is about 750 for each of the two NHL-size hockey rinks.

History

The Wentzville Ice Arena was built in 1998 as the Wentzville Ice Arena. The facility was developed, and originally owned, by Wayne Stumpf. The complex was constructed at a cost of $4.5 million. The Wentzville Ice Arena first opened its doors to the public on December 18, 1998. Naming rights were later sold, and the arena became known as the CenturyTel Ice Arena. The arena was sold to Lindenwood University in July 2004. The ice arena received renovations during the summer of 2010 to prepare for the transition of the university's athletic department to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. The renovation included new in-ice logos, new boards, and major updates to the women's locker room that includes a new video room and new workout room for the team's move to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. Also the university constructed a new men's ACHA DII/JV locker room. It commonly is host to youth ice hockey tournaments. In April 2018, Lindenwood University notified the City of Wentzville of plans to relocate its hockey programs to a newly constructed facility in Maryland Heights, which would be less than six miles from the Lindendwood campus as opposed to the 20 mile distance between campus and the arena in Wentzville. The university planned to put the facility up for sale and expressed a strong preference to seeing it remain as an operational arena in the City. After conducting due diligence, the City of Wentzville purchased the facility in June 2019 at a sale price of $2 million. Lindenwood agreed to finance the purchase, interest free, for a period of 20 years. The City restored the facility's original name as the Wentzville Ice Arena. Lindenwood's teams moved to the new Centene Community Ice Center in fall 2019.

References

External links

Official Wentzville Ice Arena website
{{Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey navbox Indoor arenas in Missouri Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States College ice hockey venues in the United States Buildings and structures in St. Charles County, Missouri Sports venues completed in 1998 Lindenwood Lions ice hockey 1998 establishments in Missouri