AURORA | Duncan Riley dozed as his mother dressed him for the day.
Michelle Riley didn’t mind letting her 9-year-old son sleep a little longer as she did the work, pulling a sweater over his head and prepping him for the cold temperatures. It was a morning exercise that’s likely familiar to hordes of parents who’ve struggled to get their kids to wake up.
Unlike most parents, Michelle and Duncan went through this routine before 5 a.m.
It was part of playing on a youth hockey team. Once a month, both mother and son braved the early morning hours for practice at the Family Sports Center in Centennial.
“He’s not a morning person,” Michelle Riley recalled. Her son, now 17, went on to play hockey at Regis Jesuit High School. “I would dress him while he was sleeping.”
That kind of work isn’t uncommon for the parents and kids who practice and play at the Family Sports Center and the other ice rinks around the metro area. Practices before 5 a.m. are largely a thing of the past, but the culture of hard work, grit and long hours is still a standard part of the sport.
That dedication helps drive the unique business model of the neighborhood ice rink. At facilities like Big Bear Ice Arena in Lowry, for example, it can be tough to find open time to practice or play on the two indoor ice rinks. Between skating lessons, hockey practices and those going through rehearsals for competitive skating, the ice is always busy.
Lisa Neal directs the figure skating and “Learn to Skate” programs at Big Bear, and she said that traffic comes from very dedicated skaters. She should know — her two daughters are competitive ice skaters, and she came to her gig at the arena as a volunteer.
“It’s an extremely expensive sport and it’s complicated too,” Neal said. “I think most figure skating parents are very involved. There are a lot of practices and they can be at very odd hours early in the morning.”
That’s part of what drives business at Family Sports Center, a facility funded through the South Suburban Recreation District. Though the taxing district is west of Interstate 25, the center draws plenty of children and parents from southeast Aurora, as well as Parker and other cities outside of the district’s boundaries. The Family Sports Center features a full arcade and a neighboring golf course, but the ice is one of its main draws.
“Hockey-wise, we’re very full. We might be able to fit in another 15 players,” said Frank Xavier, supervisor of ice operations and programs at Family Sports Center. “We have the largest youth hockey association in Colorado with over 800 kids.”
Since opening in the late ‘90s, the center has also served as the practice facility for the Colorado Avalanche. Just as crowds flock to Dove Valley to see the Broncos practice during preseason, the Avs’ training camp sessions in September draws standing room-only audiences.
“We’ll fill the stands,” said Xavier, a University of Denver alum who played for the school’s hockey team.
Unlike Dove Valley, the Family Sports Center hosts professionals and amateurs alike. Avalanche players skate on the same ice as youth teams. Fans coming to watch their favorite pro players practice can also sign up for beginning skating classes. That model helps the facility bear some significant costs.
“For instance, our power bill alone runs around $30,000 a month,” Xavier said, adding that the center owns two Zambonis worth around $75,000 apiece. “That’s a pretty big ticket.”
That’s part of the reason why the Family Sports Center and Big Bear offer such a range of classes and activities. From in-house restaurants to broom hockey, these rinks cast a wide net when it comes to clientele.
But they also cater to a fiercely loyal crowd. The rinks host young hockey players and amateur figure skaters. They’re the home base for “hockey moms,” dedicated parents who aren’t put off by the prospect of early-morning or late-night practices. Those sessions were life-changing for Michelle Riley.
After bringing her son to the rink for his first practices, she got caught up in what she calls the “addictive” nature of hockey. She signed up for classes, started working with her son’s friends and eventually became the coach of a youth team. Long after her son moved on to high school sports, Riley still teaches private skating lessons and leads youth games.
“Hockey is a microcosm of life. Everything you do in hockey, there are life lessons,” Riley said. “It’s how to accept defeat, how to be good winners, how to deal with adversity, how to work hard, learning to deal with mistakes. It shows what kind of person you are.”