Long time lurker first time poster. Just wondering if anyone on here has/does play at Oceanside or Polar Ice Gilbert/Chandler. I plan on making the transition from inline to ice this fall and I'm trying to figure out where to play. Thanks.
I'm moving to Phoenix this fall as well and would like to know a little about the ice leagues as well. Any info would be great. I'll be working on ASU's downtown campus but will be in Tempe quite a bit too.
Oceanside traditionally has a better skate if you are talking about open hockey. The quality of the ice (sometimes) and the locker rooms (always) leaves somthing to be desired. Polar is probably better if you are looking for an entry-level league skate.
I haven’t skated at Oceanside in well over 10 years, but a friend on mine plays in a league there and has never complained about the ice. Polar in Peoria is hit or miss. It starts out either great or it is a lake out there! I think that Arcadia has some quality ice that holds up fairly well over a session. I just moved to Chandler, so I am anxious to try out the Polar complexes in both Chandler and Gilbert.
Holy misinformation! Ozzy Ice (On Shea) was closed about 5 years ago. It had REAL ice, but was small rinks for like 3v3 leagues. I love oceanside. It's the Coldest rink in Arizona, and has (IMO) the best ice behind Jobing.com Arena, The Ice Den, and Tim's Toyota Center. The Locker rooms are the biggest, but have a little bit of a smell to them. But it's a hockey locker room. Get over it. The showers are great though. The biggest problem with Oceanside, is the boards. If you get checked into them, it hurts. If you're looking to play a non-checking league, you should be fine.
Polar Ice Peoria is garbage. The ice is horrible. It's the softest ice in the valley (besides Arcadia, but **** Arcadia) and had black spots on the ice. The ice also SLANTS into the boards. BUT, the locker rooms, and showers are solid.
If It were me, I'd rather play at Oceanside.
Last edited by PhXcoyotes: 08-14-2012 at 09:30 PM.
Thanks for all the replies. The reason I ask is because polar's leagues are longer and cheaper overall then Oceanside.
I notice you said Chandler/Gilbert. My bad, I was just giving a review on Peoria.
Everything I said is the same, but the ice isn't as bad. Still bad, just not AS bad.
I play at 3 different rinks regularly and I've played at 5 of the 6 rinks in the valley. Here's my take:
Oceanside - nice ice, freezes well, and the focus at the rink is on hockey. Locker rooms aren't horrible, they do have air fresheners in them so it's a cinnamon smell. Doors can be hard to open from benches. For the most part there aren't any bad spots in the ice, they check regularly and fill in the pits, etc. Can be interesting when the humidity is up as the fog rolls in. There is an adult D-league for beginners, summer season is winding up and fall season will start Sep. 30. Sunday afternoons - 75 minutes drill and practice followed by a game each week. They also have Tuesday night adult rookie class, which I've been going to but it's moving to 9:10pm and that will be too late for me to go each week. It's drop in, they have loaner equipment, the coach is great.
Arcadia - ice is OK, locker rooms are a bit small, can be a tad disorganized. Stick/puck time often on only partial ice, as they rent out sections of ice to small groups, etc. Not a great neighborhood, if it were a bar, Arcadia would be your typical local dive - the locals are happy but everyone else will think it's a dump.
Polar Ice - I've skated Chandler and Peoria, but not Gilbert. Ice is soft and warm, and not even. Sometimes it's OK, but other times yucky. Sloping areas in some corners of the rink. Locker rooms can be really stinky. Peoria has a Friday night instructional league class, 9:45. I'm not sure about the other rinks' schedules. Very focused on the kids' leagues, not quite as much on adult leagues. You can not bring beer into any of the Polar Ice rinks.
Ice Den - very nice ice, really nice facilities and locker rooms. I don't get to skate there often, but I did enjoy the couple of games I played there in the Memorial Day tournament.
You didn't bash Arcadia enough. So I will. It's Arizona's oldest rink. Arcadia is the biggest dump I've ever seen. The ice is HORRIBLE. The zamboni is from like, 1975, and puts down the thinnest layer of water ever. There's giant ruts all over the ice, and your stick tape will get cut up, and the puck will hop. Once, I dropped my mouth guard on the ice (before a game, so the ice was freshly cut) and I picked it up and sliced my hand open on the ice in about 3 spots. That's just the ice.
The boards are horrible. They are the boards from the old AZ Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Roadrunners use to play. But they are old, and crappy now.
They are slanted and a super weird angle. They look like this: /
If you hit them, they all shake and make a huge noise. It's possible to ramp a puck off the boards, and have it shoot into the netting because of the angle. By the zamboni door, there's a 4 inch space between the glass to shoot a puck through too, and the boards are higher by the benches than any other rink, making it harder to hop the boards. The benchers are lower too.
The locker rooms are horrible. They are tiny, and smell like crap. DO NOT use the bathrooms. They are disgusting, and have 1970's plumbing. I hate showering there, because I feel like I'll come home with herpes.
The guy that owns it is a pretty big jerk too, and obviously doesn't care enough about that place to take care of it. The store there is a bunch of used crap, that people have donated.
Holy misinformation! Ozzy Ice (On Shea) was closed about 5 years ago. It had REAL ice, but was small rinks for like 3v3 leagues.
Misinformation indeed...it's Ozzie not Ozzy (though that would've been perfect considering who started this thread) and it had synthetic ice. It wasn't until later on that it was converted to real ice. It closed a few years after that brutal murder that took place inside.
Oh, I forgot...yeah, when I was playing a Puckhead game yesterday I got screwed by a hopping puck.
I'm not a great player - not even a good player. But I can catch a pass around the boards most of the time. Yesterday the D made such a pass to me, I was waiting in just the right spot to catch the pass, was waiting for it to travel the last foot or so to hit my stick.
Puck gets about 4" away from my stick then bounces up off the ice and OVER my stick and about 18" to the other side! I was stunned - how on earth does a puck that is traveling nice and smoothly across the ice get so close and then JUMP OVER a stick? I felt like a total idiot - but then as I watched the 1st line play, I saw stupid bounces happen to them too, so I knew it wasn't just me.
Yeah...Ozzie ice and the murder. They still show that episode regularly on tv.
Misinformation indeed...it's Ozzie not Ozzy (though that would've been perfect considering who started this thread) and it had synthetic ice. It wasn't until later on that it was converted to real ice. It closed a few years after that brutal murder that took place inside.
I don't remember it ever having synthetic ice? But, the murder had nothing to do with it closing. It closed because it had a new owner who didn't know what he was doing, and wasn't making money.
Slight over exaggeration on arcadias ice. I've played on every ice sheet in the valley including Jobing.com arena. Arcadia is on par with most of them.
Yeah, Ozzie opened up with synthetic and didn't switch until a few years later. I never skated there so I can't say how good either the synthetic or regular was.
Jobing.com - I skated there at the carnival in Feb. and it was great. I didn't play hockey then, though.
I am playing there on the afternoon of opening day, very exciting but also I'm a bit nervous about looking like a fool out there. I'm sure I'll get over it and not be any more of a fool than usual!
Yeah, Ozzie opened up with synthetic and didn't switch until a few years later. I never skated there so I can't say how good either the synthetic or regular was.
Jobing.com - I skated there at the carnival in Feb. and it was great. I didn't play hockey then, though.
I am playing there on the afternoon of opening day, very exciting but also I'm a bit nervous about looking like a fool out there. I'm sure I'll get over it and not be any more of a fool than usual!
Don't worry, my team lost 8-0 at Jobing las year. Can't look like a bigger fool than that! But we got to use the visitors locker room (Free tape!) and that was pretty cool.
Slight over exaggeration on arcadias ice. I've played on every ice sheet in the valley including Jobing.com arena. Arcadia is on par with most of them.
I disagree 100%. It is by far the worst ice in the state of Arizona.
Don't worry, my team lost 8-0 at Jobing las year. Can't look like a bigger fool than that! But we got to use the visitors locker room (Free tape!) and that was pretty cool.
Ooh, free tape!!!! And I heard we can even use the shower. Are they one big open shower, or are there actual stalls? Just asking cause it's a co-ed team and it might be a little awkward showering with the guys.
Holy misinformation! Ozzy Ice (On Shea) was closed about 5 years ago. It had REAL ice, but was small rinks for like 3v3 leagues. I love oceanside. It's the Coldest rink in Arizona, and has (IMO) the best ice behind Jobing.com Arena, The Ice Den, and Tim's Toyota Center. The Locker rooms are the biggest, but have a little bit of a smell to them. But it's a hockey locker room. Get over it. The showers are great though. The biggest problem with Oceanside, is the boards. If you get checked into them, it hurts. If you're looking to play a non-checking league, you should be fine.
Polar Ice Peoria is garbage. The ice is horrible. It's the softest ice in the valley (besides Arcadia, but **** Arcadia) and had black spots on the ice. The ice also SLANTS into the boards. The locker rooms, and showers are solid.
Ooh, free tape!!!! And I heard we can even use the shower. Are they one big open shower, or are there actual stalls? Just asking cause it's a co-ed team and it might be a little awkward showering with the guys.
It's just one big open shower. The only rink I have played at with stalls was the new rink at the ice den. So out of 14 ice sheets in Arizona, 1 has stalls.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doaner
WOW! Chilax much!! Damn
I don't see how that one was bad? My rant on Arcadia, is a different story
My opinion:
#1- Ice Den, best facilities, best ice and a nice bar on the grounds
#2- Gilbert Polar Ice, great and spacious facilities. Great ice quality and clean rest rooms
#3- Ocean Side
#4 - Chandler Polar
#5 - Arcadia, aging facilities
#6 - Peoria Polar Ice, just down right awful. Poorly run facilities, poorly run leagues, worst ice I have ever seen.
I'm very biased towards Oceanside because it's the rink where I learned to play and is closest to where I live. The ice has some faults particularly around the east end boards, but they just got new glass recently and the boards seem fine to me (it's the one rink where I've never played checking hockey, when I played high school we played pretty much everywhere except Oceanside). It just feels kind of like my "home rink" so I just really like playing there.
The Ice Den is probably the nicest facility in the valley, though I don't make it out there much, despite now living in Tempe so it's actually reasonably close.
Polar Chandler I remember being okay a while back, when I played high school, but I went there recently just for a public skating session and they put us on the North Pole - and the ice looked and felt pretty horrible.
Polar Peoria I haven't been to in probably at least 8 years, and I've never been to Polar Gilbert, so I won't comment on those.
You can also count me as one of the Arcadia bashers too, pretty much all I'd want to say about it has already been said and I agree with them.
