2 outdoor hockey rinks now open for public use in St. George

ST. GEORGE — The city of St. George has now opened two outdoor hockey rinks just in time for cooler temperatures. These rinks, however, won't be covered in ice but flooded with hundreds of locals who have taken to the sport of ball hockey. They are also open to the public as part of the amenities at JC Snow Park near downtown St. George.

"Ball hockey has really grown quickly over the past few years," said Cory Henwood, president of Red Rock Hockey in St. George. "Working with the city, we offered to support the project financially and labor-wise to try to improve the space, and if possible, to build a new space to accommodate new players."

The league started in 2023 with 50 players and was initially practicing in a school parking lot. It then moved to an outdoor futsal field at JC Snow Park, bringing its own floor boards to play on. The club did this with the permission of the city, and as the league grew to several hundred participants, that's when the idea for larger space came.

"Red Rock Hockey ended up facilitating donations well into the six figures that we were able to help bring to the city to build a new space and to refurbish the old space," Henwood said.

The project included renovating the existing rink, adding a new rink, as well as a pavilion. It was funded through a voter approved RAP tax for recreation arts and parks, which has also funded several new parks and park upgrades including building two massive stainless-steel slides downtown.

Project manager for the city Mark Gobel said that it was good for the city to see the time and commitment that the club put into the existing space and what it was willing to do moving forward with the new rink.

"It's always cool to have the buy-in from others, not just the city," Gobel said. "The city very much appreciates when people are willing to do that type of work, which makes the city more willing to put funding toward these types of projects."

The cost from the city was about $700,000, which Gobel said included the cost in excavating, concrete, boards, surfacing and the labor to complete the project. The total cost also included the new pavilion — all of which added to existing park that includes a playground, dog park, volleyball sand pit, horseshoe pit and a popular skate park.

"The cost was mostly the concrete work and the boards," he explained. "I think the boards were around $125,000 and surfacing was around $50,000. To help keep costs down, the city did the landscaping in-house."

The city had an official opening for the rinks on Sept. 15, just as the ball hockey season gets underway.

"We have teams with 4-year-olds up through adult leagues and so there are lots of options," Henwood said. "We've got guys who've never played and are learning, to guys who have played in the NHL, who are helping the kids and getting things going. We've got a great group and this sport is growing."

With the rinks being part of the public park, they are open to the public. Gobel explained the rinks will also operate similarly to soccer fields that are used for recreation and competitive sports leagues during certain times of the week.

"It's just something unique," Gobel said. "It's a sport that's been growing in this area and kudos to the hockey club for helping int grow."

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