Early one recent July morning, the rink at Iceland on Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park was crowded with skaters of all ages taking a group figure skating class.
While the popular rink’s peak season is between November and March, heavy use of the rink continues even during the summer.
Rich Roulston, Iceland general manager and part owner, attributed the limited availability of facilities for figure skaters and hockey players on Long Island as the main reason there is activity on its ice from 5 a.m. until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. daily throughout the year.
“There’s always a demand for ice time on Long Island,” Roulston said.
The arena was one of the first ice skating venues of its kind on Long Island when it was known as Skateland between 1965 and 1980, according to Roulston, who said it first opened as an outdoor rink in the early 1960s.
In the early 1970s, New York Rangers fans remember Skateland as their team’s practice facility, where legendary players including goaltender Eddie Giacomin and right wing Rod Gilbert perfected their moves for National Hockey League games in Madison Square Garden.
“There’s a lot of history in this rink. This is like a landmark,” Roulston said.
It’s also home ice for the Metropolitan Figure Skating Club, which helped finance construction of a roof over the rink to make it one of the area’s first indoor rinks in 1965.
Ice skating gave way to roller skating in 1981. But Iceland made a comeback as an ice skating mecca in 1991.
These days, the New York Gulls use the rink as a practice site and home ice for 20 amateur travel teams with players age five up to players 20 years old who play on the Gulls junior team.
Young aspiring hockey players start off learning hockey basics in continuous eight-week sessions on Sunday afternoons for $190 per player for one session. They graduate into three different divisions, 6 to 9 year olds, 10 to 12 years old and 13 to 17 years old in seasonal leagues Iceland maintains as a prelude for them to play on the Gulls teams.
Hockey isn’t the sport uppermost in most young athletes’ minds in July. But Roulston said 100 youngsters are signed up for the Iceland Summer House League that began near the end of June for $190 per player. The facility’s $150 six-week learn to skate summer program starts next weekend.
Ralston estimates that group lessons draw 1,200 people, starting at age three or four, to Iceland each year – with many of those students carrying dreams of Olympic medals onto the ice. Iceland also offers private lessons with Peter Burrows, who coached gold medal winner Dorothy Hamill and other figure skating standouts to Olympics immortality.
Sarah Hughes took lessons at Iceland before bringing home her Olympic gold to Great Neck.
“They have to compete at certain levels and complete certain tests to compete in national competitions,” said Roulston, who has developed all of the programs Iceland maintains.
Iceland offers a competitive skating program for more advanced skaters, and stages shows and recitals at the New Hyde Park arena.
General sessions for casual skaters vary by season, but are generally scheduled for weekends, with additional sessions scheduled for school holiday periods.
The 60-year-old Roulston, who opens the rink himself at 5 a.m. each morning, has come full circle from his younger days when he hit the ice early to play.
“I used to get up at five in the morning to come and play here,” he recalled.
After playing junior and semi-pro hockey, Roulston coached for 10 years at St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset and at Nassau Community College in the early 1980s. He has also coached travel teams and has been a hockey referee at all levels. He also ran the New York Islanders Hockey School in the ‘80s.
“I’ve been involved since youth hockey started on Long Island,” he said, noting that youth leagues started on Long Island in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
Today he said aspiring hockey players have more opportunity for proper training with more rinks in the region, and he sees some kids strapping on their skates and helmets five or six times a week at Iceland.
“People who get involved in hockey are very dedicated. It’s a very expensive sport,” he said. “And they need the ice time and good coaching.”
Roulston said he feels fortunate that he’s played a role in helping train young skaters, particularly as he sees a continuity from generation to generation as Iceland’s legacy lives on.
“I feel lucky that I’ve been involved in a sport I’ve loved and played,” he said. “It’s great to see kids I coached 20 or 30 years ago coming in with their kids now.”
