By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Jay Sandine on Wednesday equated the fight to save Riverview Ice House to the moment when hockey players drop their gloves to slug it out on the ice.
It’s a fitting metaphor for an arena that has welcomed thousands of hockey players since it opened in 1975. But Sandine, the executive director of the Rockford Park District, said Wednesday represented a different time when gloves are dropped: to shake hands.
“Sometimes you have to drop the gloves to rally your team, but after that competition is done you drop the gloves for a different cause,” he said at a reopening celebration for the downtown ice house. “That’s when they come to mid-ice, they get in the middle and they go and they shake hands with each other out of respect.”
That’s what happened on Wednesday as the park district gathered to celebrate with Save Riverview Ice House, the group that had fought the district’s initial plans to close the facility, which needed extensive fixes to its refrigeration system.
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Riverview, 324 N. Madison St., was nearly shuttered as a cost savings measure in 2020 until the grassroots group of figure skaters, hockey players and downtown advocates rallied to convince the park district to keep it open. At the time, the district planned to close the facility and consolidate ice programs at Carlson Ice Arena in Loves Park.
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On Wednesday, the park district instead celebrated its reopening with festivities in the parking lot that included food trucks, music and street hockey inside the new inflatable hockey rink. The night was capped off by a sold-out exhibition game between the Rockford IceHogs and the Iowa Wild. It’s the team’s first preseason game in Rockford since 2017.
“The easy decision would have been for the park district to close it and move all the ice facilities to Loves Park,” said Jay Graham, a longtime hockey player who helped form Save Riverview Ice House. “We had to make the case that it was important to keep it here, and they gave us an opportunity to do that.
“There were some acrimonious moments, but somewhere along the line we all realized that we’re pulling on the same rope, and we were committed to doing the right thing.”
Construction started in April 2022. The primary fix to the facility was to replace the obsolete refrigeration system that had numerous cracks and leaks. There were also upgrades to the sanitary systems, sound system, concrete base floors, fire alarms and new sprinkler heads throughout the building.
“The things that have been changed are critical, but they’re subtle or unseen,” Graham said. “Everything that matters was done in a top-notch way, and this is as good a community ice rink as you’re going to see anywhere.”
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There are visible changes, too. The dasher boards and glass around the rink were upgraded, and the locker rooms were expanded with showers and restrooms in each. There was also new HVAC, electrical and plumbing.
Additional renovations taking place now include restroom renovations, painting, new flooring, new glass in exterior windows, tuckpointing and other repairs.
The total cost of those improvements is about $9 million. It was paid for with the help of a $2.5 million state grant secured by state Sen. Steve Stadelman, who later secured an additional $250,000 from the state. Heather and Peter Provenzano will donate a total of $1 million over 10 years, and the Smith Charitable Foundation donated $50,000. The Koch family provided financial support for the facility’s operations.
The park district also borrowed $3.5 million through bond sales that are repaid over 20 years. The district authorized up to $6 million in bonds to be sold if needed.
Provenzano runs SupplyCore, a supply chain integrator that provides support to the U.S. military and its allies around the world. The company is located across the river from the ice house.
“He can be anywhere he wants with his business,” Sandine said. “He has always chosen Rockford. He has always chosen downtown. He’s been very consistent on his love for this community, and we owe him a lot of appreciation.”
Provenzano said the ice house is an important attraction that brings more than 300,000 visitors a year. After they skate, there are multiple places in walking distance to eat and relax, he said.
Stadelman said Riverview Ice House is an important component of downtown’s economic future. He said amenities like the ice house are part of what make people enjoy where they live.
“You want to be a place where people want to move to, where businesses want to go, and I think the Riverview Ice House is an important aspect of that whole thing,” he said.
Compiled by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas