Pettit National Ice Ctr

Are you wanting to learn how to skate? Or the parent of an Olympic hopeful? This is a premiere ice skating rink capable fulfilling all the needs that you might have for skating. Instruction is available. And there is also free skate periods where you can just play around on the ice if you like. A great place to go in the dead of summer. Nothing like cooling off all the way down to the bones and getting some great cardiovascular excercise while having fun. Wonderful place to go and play. Great parking also. more

My daughter and I love going to the Pettit for a bit of Olympic athlete spotting and a few spins around the oval. We have usually had a great experience there -- we have found the other skaters to be courteous and the general mood to be light and it's fun to watch the activities on the other rinks -- the other skaters there are pretty nice and they've had some fun events like a recent skate with the Mascots day which my daughter loved. But, as we found out over the holidays this year, the Pettit can get very crowded and didn't do a particularly good job with ice maintenance -- their open skate hours are pretty long so perhaps they just prep the ice before and after the session -- the upshot was rough ice that a couple of learn-to-skaters like us found a bit more difficult to navigate. (My 3-year-old fell more then usual and I had to just glide through it all and forget the cross overs I was learning) I can't imagine that they let their serious athletes skate on that so they have to repair it daily and get it up to par and we'd never had ice troubles before. But after running into the issue a couple of times we now steer clear during high traffic times like holidays and school breaks and go on nothing-happening weekends and weekdays. more

A wonderful place to take the entire family during family skate times. You get to experience the ice and skating, without the frigid outdoors temps! The arena is cool, to maintain ice temperature, so make sure to bring a light jacket or sweatshirt. The prices are very good, a great deal for several hours of fun skating. There are people of all talents that come, so the beginner with share the ice with the advanced skater. Everyone is respectful of others. There is a viewing area for non-participants. There are often hockey games going on as well, which you can observe with admission. The locker room is spacious and there are plenty of lockers for your personal items. more

I am an avid hockey player and love the Pettit Center. It is well lit, and the ice is pretty good quality. They are a little to militant on their times. Even if there is nothing scheduled after the pick up time they make you get off immediately. Not a way to win over players to have them come back to play. There are also no real set pick up hockey times and they very from week to week. You also can not trust their web site as I showed up once to play at the time listed on their website and made a change and left me there literally holding the (hockey) bag. After driving 30 minutes I was not to happy. They are many times disorganized. There is better hockey and skating coming however as I hear the Powerade Ice Complex will be opening sometime. It has started construction but has been delayed numerous times and I am not sure why. It will have 5 rinks and numerous other amenities.http://www.poweradeiceport.com go here to check it out or do a search on Google. more

The Pettit National Ice center is the center for training Olympic athletes in speed skating. The facility holds the world speed skating championships each year. The center has a pro shop where you can get all of your ice skating needs as well as many gifts for the ice skating fan. more

One of the premier training facilities for Olympic speed skater, Pettit is great for us locals too. They have open skate times during the day, evenings and weekends. Check their website for times. They offer a huge range of classes for beginners to professionals. Classes range from 3 years old to adult. The instructors are great. more

The Pettit National Ice Center has public skating hours every day but Monday. Kids under 12 pay $5 and adults pay $6. It's a great, cool place during the summer and they also offer a skating school. There are hockey, speed skating and figure skating camps and it is also a training facility for the Olympic skaters. more