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On Ice
is brought to you by:
Click above for more information & to make a reservation!
Click above to access our website!
We look forward to keeping you informed of all the activities and news from Centre Ice and Howe Arena!
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Centre Ice and Howe Arena offer events and activities for all age groups and for a variety of ability levels. Learn to Skate, Play Hockey, Go Curling, Catch a High School Hockey Game, Skate to Music Under the Lights during a Twilight Skate, Watch the TC Hounds Jr. A Hockey Team in Action...the list goes on and on! Check out the
Calendar Link for complete details.
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Please Support the Sponsors of
On Ice!
Click the logo to access Lucky Jack's website!
Click the logo to access Spaghetti Jim's website!
Would you like your logo to appear in
On Ice?
C
ontact Tricia Frey - (231) 933-7465 x106 or [email protected]
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Upcoming
Events & Activities:
Public Skating Programs - A great way to get exercise and interact with your friends and family!
March 6 vs Alpena Flyers, 7:00 pm, Centre Ice Arena.
Tickets $5, Kids under 5 FREE!
GTHA Cherry Cup Playoffs - March 6, 7 & 8, Centre Ice and Howe Arena.
Final Twilight Skate of the Season - March 7, 7:00 pm, Howe Arena.
$5 admission/$3 Skate Rental or BYO.
TC Figure Skating Club Ice Show
- March 13 & 14, three performances, Centre Ice Arena. Tickets on sale now. Click Here to order.
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Centre Ice and Howe Arena are home to the following community organizations and teams. Click on the logos for
information and upcoming
events.
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Grand Traverse Hockey Association
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TC Figure Skating Club |
Bay Area Reps High School Hockey
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TC Central Trojans High School Hockey |
TC West Titans High School Hockey
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TC Hounds Jr. A Hockey
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High School Hockey Regular Season Recap
Another regular season has come to a close for local high school hockey teams Bay Reps, TC Central Trojans and TC West Titans. Team photos and regular season records are shown below.
In post-season play, the 2015 Pre-Regionals began March 2 and will be followed later this week with regional action. Quarterfinals are March 10 and 11. Semi-finals and Finals will be played March 12, 13 and 14 at Compuware Arena in Plymouth. Watch the Centre Ice and individual team websites and Facebook pages for updates. A recap of local teams' performances during the 2015 High School Hockey post-season will be featured in the April issue of On Ice.
For the complete MHSAA Ice Hockey Tournament schedule, Click Here.
Congratulations to all players, coaches, managers, parents and boosters for another great season. The teams have played well while exhibiting a high level of teamwork and sportsmanship. You make your communities proud to be high school hockey fans!
Traverse City West Titans
17-8
Traverse City Central Trojans
16-8-1
Bay Reps
8-16-1
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Facebook Sweepstakes Happening Now!
You may have noticed that we've been giving away wonderful things on our Facebook Page. We kicked off our Sweepstakes Campaign in January and have already given away the following prizes to these lucky winners:
- $25 Lucky Jack's Gift Card to Becky Harvey
- $25 Spaghetti Jim's Gift Card to Laura Wright
- $60 Open Skate Punch Card Sponsored by Grand Beach & Sugar Beach Resorts to Michael Baker
Watch the Centre Ice Arena Facebook page for a chance to win more sweepstakes in the future.
Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to our sponsors!
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Centre Ice Is Home to These Fine Businesses:
Hockey Shop North
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There's a Bonspiel Coming to Centre Ice Arena! Now...
What's a Bonspiel?
Bonspiel is a curling term that means tournament and the TC Curling Club is hosting the first one to ever be held at Centre Ice Arena. The Cherry Bombspiel, presented by Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Blue Care Network, takes place on April 24-26.
A field of 32 teams representing curling clubs in the U.S. and Canada will compete at Cherry Bombspiel. Four-time Olympian Debbie McCormick is scheduled to participate.
Community support for Cherry Bombspiel has been tremendous. In addition to the presenting sponsor Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Blue Care Network, the bonspiel is being supported by Bayshore Resort - which is hosting all 32 teams from across the U.S. - Belle Tire, Sarya Orthodontics, Murphy Chiropractic, Higher Grounds Coffee, McCardel Culligan, Northwestern Mutual /Mike Meindertsma, Brownwood Farms and the Official Beverage Sponsor, Short's Brewing Company.
The public is invited to come to Centre Ice, enjoy a Short's beverage and watch all the action. Matches - called draws - begin Friday, April 24 at 9 am and continue through Saturday evening. The semi-finals and finals are scheduled for Sunday morning. For complete details Click Here.
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We hope you've enjoyed this issue of
On Ice.
Please forward to anyone you know who likes to stay informed of the events and activities at Centre Ice and Howe Arena. Thank you!
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I.C.E. (Involved Citizens Enterprises), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing accessible and affordable ice skating programs to the Grand Traverse Community.
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Happy St. Patrick's Day from everyone at
Centre Ice and Howe Arena!
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Grand Traverse Hockey Association Wraps Up A Busy February
February was jam packed with GTHA activity. The Feb. 6, 7 & 8
MAHA District 7 Playoffs at Centre Ice Arena produced the following champions. Congratulations to players, coaches, managers and parents of these Championship Teams!
SQAA Bayshore Bruins beat Sault Ste Marie 5-1 in the Championship Game.
PWA Pepsi beat Petoskey 6-2 in the
Championship Game.
PWAA Dave Harvey's beat Alpena 4-1 in the Championship Game. 
BTAA Pepsi beat Sault Ste Marie best two out of three to win their Championship.
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Other GTHA Events:
BT1 Century Link won the Big Rapids Tournament the first weekend in February beating Grand Valley 5-0 in the Championship Game.
PWAA Dave Harvey's became NIHL League and Playoff Champions the third weekend of February after beating Calumet 8-0 in the Championship Game.
A successful Mite Jamboree took place at Centre Ice the third weekend in February hosted by GTHA and MAHA. Over 400 players on 48 teams took to the ice with hundreds of spectators filling the stands. Here are a couple photos from that event:
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The Ice Show Cometh
Question: What do you get when you combine a Bronze Medal Olympian, an America's Got Talent Quarterfinalist and incredibly talented local figure skaters?
Answer: The 40th Annual Traverse City Figure Skating Club Ice Show, of course!
Get your tickets now for the TCFSC Ice Show "Skate To Neverland" - brought to you by Traverse City State Bank - at Centre Ice Arena, March 13 and 14. This year's show will feature the talented skaters of TCFSC and world class special guests as they bring Peter Pan to life on ice.
"The show will present the talents of all the club's skaters from our three-year-olds and up," says Laurent Masse, TCFSC Director and Coach. "We have soloists including many of our talented young skaters, our seniors, Sectional competitor Molly Davies and National competitor Frances Rossiter."
In addition to the club soloists, two special guests will also perform. "We have two guest skaters this year. Jeremy Abbott - a two-time Olympian and bronze medalist in the team competition at the Sochi Olympics - and Joel Dear, most notably from America's Got Talent," said Masse. Abbott is also a four-time National Champion and Dear, a Traverse City native and former TCFSC member, is a two-time National Medalist. Dear appeared on Season 8 of AGT with a group called "Aerial Ice" and will appear this Saturday, March 7 at 4 pm on ABC as a special guest on Shall We Dance on Ice.
According to Patty Davies, Advertising and Marketing Director for TCFSC, "This is not just a skating exhibition. Our ice show is an elaborately choreographed production with phenomenal local talent, wonderful costumes, captivating music and, as always, incredibly talented guest skaters! Many thanks to our title sponsor Traverse City State Bank. Their generous support helps our club present a show of this caliber."
Do NOT miss this show! There are just three performances - Friday, March 13 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, March 14 at 1:30 and 7:30 pm - so get your tickets soon. Tickets are $17 and can be purchased at www.mynorthtickets.com. Proceeds from ticket sales support TCFSC and its programs.
For more information or to learn how to get involved in the Traverse City Figure Skating Club, Click Here.
Editor's Note: The first ice show took place 40 years ago at the Glacier Dome. For more information on the history of Traverse City ice rinks, see the article about Centre Ice and Howe Arena below.
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Spotlight on Business -
A Little School House at Centre Ice Arena
On Ice asked the owners of A Little School House, LLC - Brooks and Lori Millar - about their business, their backgrounds and what it's like to run a preschool and day care center located in Centre Ice Arena. Here's what we learned from Lori in her own words:
A Little School House has been providing licensed child care and preschool programming at Centre Ice since September 2010. We have developed a program to fit the needs of each child as an individual. Our program allows children to explore, learn and, most importantly, have fun in a safe and educational environment.
We opened our first private preschool in Seattle, WA in 1999. By 2003 we opened a second private preschool. With 16 years of teaching together and backgrounds in elementary education and early childhood education, Brooks and I strive to bring a well rounded and exciting early educational experience to children in our community.
Brooks is originally from Elk Rapids and I am from Jasper, MI. We lived in Seattle for 10 years. Upon having kids of our own, we relocated to Traverse City to be closer to family.
Understanding that a need exists for quality early childhood education on Traverse City's east side, living closely to Centre Ice and the very welcoming community feel of Centre Ice are all supportive reasons for our interest in operating a business inside Centre Ice Arena. And, we are
situated between these other schools: Cherry Knoll, GTA, SEAS and East Middle School.
A Little School House is a State of Michigan licensed day care center and preschool. We are licensed for 30 children and operate at full capacity daily.
To join our waiting list, parents are encouraged to call
231-933-7465 ext. 108
to arrange a visit. We have an application with a fee of $25.00. We are currently accepting applications for Summer 2015 and the school year of 2015-2016. Upon receipt of the application and initial visit, families are then added to our waiting list. Families are greatly encouraged to visit as soon as possible as it may be several months before openings occur. Begin the process by visiting our web site at
www.alittleschoolhouse.org
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This year, we are excited to offer a Summer Camp program for children ages 5-8. The Summer Camp will operate through the summer months and include great activities like gardening, fishing, pond dipping, bug catching and creating natural art on our private property of 40+ acres. For more details and enrollment information, please contact us at A Little School House.
These adorable children of A Little School House pose with Arena Ambassador Georgina the Giraffe in the photo at top. Here they give her a group goodbye hug!
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Centre Ice and Howe Arena - Explaining the Relationship
It can be a confusing scenario: Posted on the Centre Ice Arena website and Facebook page is information for the upcoming Twilight Skate, but wait, it's not at Centre Ice but rather Howe Arena. Is Howe Arena a rink in Centre Ice Arena? No, Howe Arena is an indoor ice rink at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center. Then why is information about Howe Arena, which is at the Civic Center, being distributed by Centre Ice and not Grand Traverse County? Good Question! We'll do our best to explain that here with a brief history lesson.
Inside Howe Arena, during a recent Open Skate
In Traverse City, from 1974 to 1982, there was a privately owned ice rink called the Glacier Dome. It closed in the spring of 1982 and there was no other ice skating facility within 100 miles. The summer after the Glacier Dome closed, I.C.E. (Involved Citizens Enterprises) was formed as a non-profit umbrella organization for skating groups that had previously used the Glacier Dome. In collaboration with Grand Traverse County, I.C.E. and its volunteer groups maintained public skating, hockey and figure skating programs in temporary facilities called "bubble rinks" until a permanent facility could be built. In the Spring of 1983 the first bubble rink was constructed at the Civic Center.
For the next six years, bubble rinks were the only source for indoor skating in Traverse City and there were issues involved including the collapse of the first bubble rink in a windstorm. It was clear a more permanent facility was needed and I.C.E. took a leadership role in the fundraising effort. In September 1989, Howe Arena at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center opened its doors.
With the popularity of hockey and ice skating in Traverse City and surrounding areas, it didn't take people long to realize that Howe Arena could not keep up with the demand of the ice skating community. After a series of efforts directed toward building a second permanent rink at the Civic Center failed to come to fruition, two local businessmen, Marty Lagina and Craig Tester, donated 13 acres of land in East Bay Township to I.C.E. for the purpose of constructing a second ice skating facility in Traverse City. After receiving approval for construction and implementing site and utilization plans, the groundbreaking for what would become Centre Ice Arena began in 1996. In 1997 the dream of a second permanent ice rink became a reality when, on April 7, Centre Ice Arena, with its two sheets of ice, welcomed the first skaters. David's Rink opened in April, West Rink in June and the first Detroit Red Wings Training Camp was held in September.
I.C.E. owns and operates Centre Ice Arena and operates Howe Arena at the Civic Center.
The ice at Howe Arena will be taken down on March 8 for the summer, but fear not, the ice will return as always sometime in August, just in time for the many popular public skating programs (which take place at Centre Ice Arena during the spring and summer months) and TC Central and TC West High School Hockey. During the spring and summer months, Howe Arena becomes a convention center, housing the likes of the Hunting and Fishing Expo and Traverse City Boat and Outdoor Show.
And, now you know! For an even more detailed history lesson about Centre Ice and Howe Arena, Click Here. It's fascinating!
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