New icerink!!

headlikea · 06-10-2012 4:09pm

buki9 wrote: »

can u send me private message about teams in ireland and other clubs ... i'm fresh here

Hi buki9, I PM'd you about clubs.

buki9 · 07-10-2012 12:15pm

headlikea wrote: »

Hi buki9, I PM'd you about clubs.

Hi and thanks a million .

headlikea · 07-10-2012 1:01pm

The site on that last link I sent you has been down, but it's back up again, it's been having a few problems for the past fortnight, but it's good for hockey and will give you information on hockey in Poland too if you go on the main page.

headlikea · 09-10-2012 6:19pm

Doesn't look like "Winter Wonderland" is coming back to Kilmainham this year : http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0405/1224314387603.html

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 1:35pm

http://www.iiha.org/news/705/latest-update-on-santry-ice-rink

Doesn't look like there will be ice in santry again anyway, which is a shame. If they are looking for a new place I'd imagine we'd be looking at months of set up again if/when they find a suitable spot. So I reckon any NHL iced rinks for the south are a far way away

cena · 17-10-2012 2:06pm

PMC83 wrote: »

http://www.iiha.org/news/705/latest-update-on-santry-ice-rink

Doesn't look like there will be ice in santry again anyway, which is a shame. If they are looking for a new place I'd imagine we'd be looking at months of set up again if/when they find a suitable spot. So I reckon any NHL iced rinks for the south are a far way away

That was a waste of money setting it up

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 2:08pm

cena wrote: »

That was a waste of money setting it up

How so?

headlikea · 17-10-2012 2:25pm

PMC83 wrote: »

How so?

How Not? PMC how could you seriously not consider this absolute shambles a waste of money. I'm interested to hear your opinion. You don't think it's a waste of money, time, hard work, especially for the people and their families who gave up their own time to work very hard at converting a cold storage warehouse into an ice rink?
Not a waste of money? What about people who joined clubs, joined the IIHA, bought skates, bought gear under the false impression they would have an NHL size rink to use?
Do you think it's acceptable to simply just accept the fact that "they are looking for a new location" without even questioning it?
It's absurd.

kevin-46 · 17-10-2012 2:39pm

headlikea wrote: »

How Not? PMC how could you seriously not consider this absolute shambles a waste of money. I'm interested to hear your opinion. You don't think it's a waste of money, time, hard work, especially for the people and their families who gave up their own time to work very hard at converting a cold storage warehouse into an ice rink?
Not a waste of money? What about people who joined clubs, joined the IIHA, bought skates, bought gear under the false impression they would have an NHL size rink to use?
Do you think it's acceptable to simply just accept the fact that "they are looking for a new location" without even questioning it?
It's absurd.

ye its fu. ckin stupid i was up there for a month when it opened then close wat was the point in have the rink there in the first place

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 2:47pm

Not looking to get into a argument on it. I can see why you would be angry alright, I've a set of skates I bought myself which are no longer getting much use.

I suppose at the time of opening it didn't seem a like waste, for those setting up or helping set up, as they were assuming they could push it forward and grow it. At the time I was hearing a lot of excitement from most people.

But I guess that's just the danger of getting involved in a venture like Santry.
The current economic climate is ****, theres no money out there, I'd feel bad for any parent who bought gear for their kids, but honestly anyone who put any money into the place must have known that there would be a high chance the place would fail.

Hard for me to say if it was a waste of money, as I don't know how much planning went into it, did the people in charge do everything they could do to keep it open, did they plan for the future etc etc.

I've a lot of respect for anyone who goes out and trys to do something, its pretty easy to lable it a waste of time/money if it doesn't go right.

headlikea · 17-10-2012 2:50pm

You're right Kevin, you probably spent money on gear yourself, and paying into the ice rink and joining the IIHA to use the ice rink.
You have every right to be anoyed and don't let anyone tell you any different. The good news is that Castleknock on ice should be re-opeing this weekend so you can practise there, but that's not the point. People are pissed off because they were misled into believing they would have a fully operational NHL size rink in the Republic of Ireland without having to travel to the North every weekend.

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 2:58pm

headlikea wrote: »

People are pissed off because they were misled into believing they would have a fully operational NHL size rink in the Republic of Ireland without having to travel to the North every weekend.

Anyone who didn't take that news with a pinch of salt is pretty naive in my book. Have a look around and know what you are buying into/getting involved in.

This is Ireland after all, not exactly hockey central.

headlikea · 17-10-2012 3:07pm

PMC- I believe that everyone would have started off with the best intentions for Santry, I don't doubt that. No-one sets up deliberately to fail. There is a saying that goes along the lines of "The only failure in life is in not even trying" and I'm in full support of anyone who tries to make a go of things in these trying times but something must have gone very seriously wrong here. There is a lot of interest in ice hockey and ice skating which is evident from Castleknock and Dundrum on ice. However, regarding Santry, the same people are making mistakes over and over again, that's 3 times now- The Ice Dome, Dundalk, Charlestown, and now Santry.

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 3:20pm

headlikea wrote: »

PMC- I believe that everyone would have started off with the best intentions for Santry, I don't doubt that. No-one sets up deliberately to fail. There is a saying that goes along the lines of "The only failure in life is in not even trying" and I'm in full support of anyone who tries to make a go of things in these trying times but something must have gone very seriously wrong here. There is a lot of interest in ice hockey and ice skating which is evident from Castleknock and Dundrum on ice. However, regarding Santry, the same people are making mistakes over and over again, that's 3 times now- The Ice Dome, Dundalk, Charlestown, and now Santry.

Money, money, money I guess. Places must cost a fortune to run. I was there about 4 times, 2 of which in the last month it was open. Both times there were no more then 8 of us on the ice, all paying just 10 quid a head. Which probably isn't enough to justify having the ice cold for an hour. One time there was only 6 of us!

In my opinion there is defo an interest there (castle knock and so on), but they need to grow it a bit more before they can sustain an nhl ice rink.

Scotland have a few, and their cities are all pretty small in relation to Dublin! What are we doing wrong?!

headlikea · 17-10-2012 3:49pm

"Money, money, money I guess. Places must cost a fortune to run. I was there about 4 times, 2 of which in the last month it was open. Both times there were no more then 8 of us on the ice, all paying just 10 quid a head. Which probably isn't enough to justify having the ice cold for an hour. One time there was only 6 of us! "

Maybe the low figures were due to the fact that it wasn't open to the public, also numbers of ice hockey players have dropped to 297 according to the IIHF figures http://www.iihf.com/en/iihf-home/countries/ireland.html compared to the 428 three years ago. Ice hockey in Ireland was doing very well from the late 1990's until about 2010. And there were no full size rinks then either so you when you ask "What are we doing wrong?" I feel the answer lies not in the size of rinks but with the current Board of the IIHA who have done little to promote, foster or advance the sport in recent years.

I think it could cost in the region of 5 to 7 million euro to set up an NHL size rink but I'm open to correction on that.

syklops · 17-10-2012 3:52pm

honestly anyone who put any money into the place must have known that there would be a high chance the place would fail.

Its attitudes like this which show why we dont have much nice things in Ireland. Its better to spend the money on the local GAA club, which wont be going out of fashion anyime soon, then try to build something new. Not attacking you or anything, its just a shame that thats the attitude held by so many.

PMC83 · 17-10-2012 4:15pm

syklops wrote: »

Its attitudes like this which show why we dont have much nice things in Ireland. Its better to spend the money on the local GAA club, which wont be going out of fashion anyime soon, then try to build something new. Not attacking you or anything, its just a shame that thats the attitude held by so many.

Well, to be fair the track record isn't great for rinks here, which is why I'd have been dubious about Santry. BELIEVE ME I wanted it to succeed!!

headlikea · 17-10-2012 4:45pm

Also, more importantly, there was no money back in the eighties and nineties either when ice hockey started to gain momentum here, but with determination, ambition, will, support, good leadership and a lot of hard and voluntary work things started to take off from there.
I can see this same dedication and determination in the people who set up the Celtic Clovers and Dublin Ducks in Castleknock, so it doesn't matter that Castleknock isn't NHL size, neither were the rinks in the eighties or nineties but the sport was thriving then.

ExIIHA · 17-10-2012 7:01pm

I dont want to trot out the history to people who might not be interested but......
to make it as short as possible, originally some guys went into a meeting representing the IIHA with a view to setting up a rink in Dundalk and came out with a leases in their own names as tenants of what became the Dome in the centre in Dundalk. The leadership of the IIHA at the time had secured the IIHA Div. 111 World Championships for 2007 but again it was engineered so that the Dome took the gate receipts while the IIHA hardly profited at all. It was as if the sport was there to service the rink and not vice versa. When leagues were set up, again the finances went to the Dome. These people went on to engineer the take-over of the IIHA and are still in control. I could go on and shock you with revelations that make politics in Ireland seem tame and sweet. If you want to know more check out the Irish section of International Hockey Forum on the web.

headlikea · 17-10-2012 7:12pm

You put up a link to the International Hockey Forums on page 12 of this thread but it has been disabled, why is this. I PM'd it to poster Buki9. I don't know why it was disabled on this forum but it would be of interest to everyone involved in ice hockey, not just the Ireland section, but links to live streams, many helpful tips, the history of ice hockey etc, it is virtually a library about ice hockey.

ExIIHA · 17-10-2012 8:42pm

headlikea wrote: »

You put up a link to the International Hockey Forums on page 12 of this thread but it has been disabled, why is this. I PM'd it to poster Buki9. I don't know why it was disabled on this forum but it would be of interest to everyone involved in ice hockey, not just the Ireland section, but links to live streams, many helpful tips, the history of ice hockey etc, it is virtually a library about ice hockey.

Yes that is strange and sme time back I know I made a post on here too that just disappeared. A thread on the International Hockey Forum also disappeared a while ago ???? I'ts like that old Monty Python sketch
"No One Expects The Spanish Inquisition !!!! "

kevin-46 · 18-10-2012 12:37am

if they go to shopping centers and advertised about ice ring and joinin it.. it might start wat was the point off build santry for 1 months off ice hockey play then closing it should off left it open its only around the corner from me which was handy

headlikea · 18-10-2012 9:44am

Kevin, from the start I thought it was strange that the rink wasn't open to the public. The combined number of people belonging to the associations of hockey, figure skating and curling would not have been enough alone to sustain this rink.

How can people (the public) join clubs and associations if they do not have access to the rink to try it out and see if they enjoy it first and how do the public find out about the rink in the first place unless it is advertised.

Santry opened for 6 weeks from the end of April to the beginning of June 2012.
Then it closed for building work and was supposed to re-open to the public in Sept. A lot of it is to do with insurance which is very expensive.

People registered with the IIHA for the 2011/2012 season because of this rink which has been in the planning since September 2011.

Myself and others found out the Santry building was being advertised for immediate letting on Daft.ie nearly two months ago. Now, the IIHA and the ISAI (ice skating association Ireland) must have known about this back then too, otherwise why would the ISAI have set up skating classes in Dundrum on Ice again this year if the Santry rink was going to re-open.

Yet the IIHA only put up this information on its website about the rink "looking for another location" two days ago ???

ExIIHA · 18-10-2012 10:43am

headlikea wrote: »

Kevin, from the start I thought it was strange that the rink wasn't open to the public. The combined number of people belonging to the associations of hockey, figure skating and curling would not have been enough alone to sustain this rink.

How can people (the public) join clubs and associations if they do not have access to the rink to try it out and see if they enjoy it first and how do the public find out about the rink in the first place unless it is advertised.

Santry opened for 6 weeks from the end of April to the beginning of June 2012.
Then it closed for building work and was supposed to re-open to the public in Sept. A lot of it is to do with insurance which is very expensive.

People registered with the IIHA for the 2011/2012 season because of this rink which has been in the planning since September 2011.

Myself and others found out the Santry building was being advertised for immediate letting on Daft.ie nearly two months ago. Now, the IIHA and the ISAI (ice skating association Ireland) must have known about this back then too, otherwise why would the ISAI have set up skating classes in Dundrum on Ice again this year if the Santry rink was going to re-open.

Yet the IIHA only put up this information on its website about the rink "looking for another location" two days ago ???

Insurance to allow members of the general public access the rink is much much more expensive than a policy which covers supposed experienced skaters who are members of a small club or a couple of hundred strong Association. I am sure that having secured the lower rate, in time ways would have been found to blur the bounderies between the two - the public and the members of the Association.
This had the effect of allowing the Association to increase, however artificially, its membership, while at the same time providing the rink with a limited but loyal clientelle who would tend not to turn on the only venue providing ice with troublesome claims. I believe this was at least part of the reason for the hostility to Castleknock which was diminishing the pool of possible members/customers. Remember the rink operator was and still is the person in charge of publicity for the IIHA.

cena · 18-10-2012 11:15am

Why build an ice rink that big knowing that it wasn't going to stay open fpr long. It really was a waste of peoples free time helping with this project

Sk8rchic · 04-11-2012 5:01pm

headlikea wrote: »

Santry opened for 6 weeks from the end of April to the beginning of June 2012.Now, the IIHA and the ISAI (ice skating association Ireland) must have known about this back then too, otherwise why would the ISAI have set up skating classes in Dundrum on Ice again this year if the Santry rink was going to re-open.

The ISAI are back in Dundrum because they were asked back by the management, because of the good working relationship they have. Regardless of whether Santry re- opened or not, the skating classes would have gone ahead in Dundrum. Plans were in place to provide both Santry and Dundrum with classes, and the Senior coaches came from Northern Ireland and London to coach (They are Irish). The ISAI would hardly bring them to Dublin if the knew it wasn't going to re-open. I know they can be mean.... but not THAT mean!!! :P

headlikea · 04-11-2012 5:55pm

You have misquoted me a little in the above quote by sticking two unrelated sentences together. If you read post #234 carefully it says "myself and others found out the Santry building was being advertised for immediate letting on Daft.ie nearly 2 months ago" Two months ago being August, given that I wrote the above piece in October. When i stated that "The IIHA and ISAI must have known about this back then", I was talking about in August and not June as your editing seems to imply. Of course the ISAI didn't know about it in June,otherwise why would they employ Edward Alton to teach classes in Santry.

Just as a matter of interest, why have the ISAI never once mentioned Castleknock on Ice on their website even though the rink has been operating for over a year?

Sk8rchic · 05-11-2012 2:32pm

It wasn't the intention to 'misquote' you. I was simply highlighting the ISAI's involvement, for me to comment on nothing more, so apologies.

The ISAI only knew about Santry not re-opening on the 21st of September. I know this because 2 days later, They were in there clearing all their things (files, podiums, skates, costumes etc.) out of storage.

As for Castleknock, I don't know why it hasn't been mentioned on their websibe, but it is mentioned frequently on their facebook page, esp. if members ask about it etc. Ice is ice at the end of the day!! All members are encouraged to skate and practise at Castleknock even though the ISAI can't get ice time at the rink at present.

headlikea · 05-11-2012 4:34pm

Ok fair enough, I can't find the Ice skating Association Ireland facebook page anywhere, I wasn't aware they had one. The "comments" section are disabled on their website and there is no link to their facebook page, can you provide a link to it or PM me, thanks

headlikea · 16-11-2012 4:42pm

New Christmas rink opening today, i-skate at the RDS is running until Jan 13th.

New icerink!!

Comments