Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1333090
USICERINKS.COM JANUARY.FEBRUARY.2021 / 17 tion continued to grow in Washington state. More ice sheets were needed to fulfill demand. "For the last five to seven years our board has been hammering down on expanding because we're bursting at the seams," said Jamie Huscroft, Director of Facilities for Sno-King. Finding Their Place Knowing expansion was necessary, the folks with Sno-King began looking for a place to expand the footprint of this orga- nization and provide more ice time for kids in the area. In the early stages, the biggest hurdle was real estate costs and competing for limited space. "We have some of the highest-priced real estate in the country here," Huscroft said. "We're competing against Microsoft, Google, wine country. Any lot gets scooped quickly." Eventually, Sno-King decided on the city of Snoqualmie and began pursuing land in this area. After working with that city, the organization eventually found someone to lease land from and ended up with a four-and-a-half to five-acre parcel of land to work with. With the land secured, the dream of a new location was quickly becoming a reality. Creating the Dream In June 2019, the construction of the Snoqualmie facility began with the help of the Razwick family, a local business owner who secured the land and oversaw the construction of the building. During the next year, a crew worked to put together this 72,500-square foot facil- ity. The newest Sno-King facility would add two additional rinks to its ever-grow- ing hockey footprint in the area. Once the facility was built, it would be set to serve an estimated 1,600 youth play- ers and 1,000 adult players in the area. Besides all of that, there is a mezzanine level for spectators to observe the action happening on the ice. There are also locker rooms and stands big enough to hold 250 people. One feature that isn't available at the other Sno-King facilities is an area for dryland training. This was certainly a priority when building the Snoqualmie facility. That led to a 2,000-foot dryland training area. "That's really going to help us bring in new people," Huscroft said. "It's going to get our current teams to where they should be." Sno-King Snoqualmie wanted to focus on all the little details that customers appreciate, including gates to divide the ice for small-area games and benches that could accommodate sled hockey teams. "We have benches twice the size of a normal one," Huscroft said. "There are a lot of little things that make this facility superior to others." An Unusual Opening After a year-plus of construction, which included stops due to the coronavirus pandemic, the facility began to open up to the community. On October 17, there were still signifi- cant restrictions when it came to hitting the ice in Washington. But it was also TO ADJUST AND ADAPT TO THE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES, THE SNOQUALMIE FACILITY CELEBRATED ITS OPENING WITH A DRIVE- THROUGH CELEBRATION. MORE THAN 500 CARS MADE THEIR WAY THROUGH THIS MADE- FOR-2020 EVENT. NT