Twin Ponds bought by Black Bear

[Guest]

Interesting. Not unexpected. Too bad Twin Ponds West is now a church and BB didn't get to it first. 

HARRISBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An affiliate of Black Bear Sports Group, Inc. (“Black Bear”) has acquired Twin Ponds East Arena in Harrisburg, PA (the “Arena”). The Arena features two NHL ice sheets and one smaller training sheet, a café, pro shop and athletic turf designed for baseball training. The Arena is home to many figure skaters and youth hockey players in the area and frequently hosts youth hockey tournaments and central Pennsylvania middle school and high school games throughout the year. Black Bear, the largest owner/operator of ice rinks in the U.S., was founded by CEO Murry Gunty in 2015.

​“The Harrisburg region has a rich hockey history and we are excited to continue building and supporting ice sports in the area,” said Murry Gunty, Founder and CEO of Black Bear. “Twin Ponds fits perfectly in our network of ice rinks including York, PA, Northern Maryland, Delaware and the Philadelphia region and in particular this rink will be a great fit for our new league, the Atlantic Hockey Federation and for our tournament businesses.”

Twin Ponds East Arena historically has served as home ice to the Hershey Jr. Bears Youth Hockey Club, the Capital City Vipers Youth Hockey Club and the Central Pennsylvania Figure Skating Club.

“We hope to expand on the figure skating, learn-to-skate and learn-to-play hockey programming to grow skating and hockey in the Capital Region,” said Ryan Scott, Vice President of Black Bear. “We also look forward to using our network and existing clubs to grow AA hockey in the region and present youth players with college hockey ambitions the ability to access our network of junior hockey franchises.”

ADMIN EDIT: Administrator added press release 8:37am est.

[Guest]

Anything can happen because if they want it and that churgh is hurting they will pay over to get it. Westtown was a gym and converted back to a rink by Quakers.

[Guest]

TP West was in Cumberland County, fastest growing county in PA and fifth most affluent. Look at the rosters of AA teams in Palmyra, York, Hershey and plenty of AAA teams and they're loaded with kids who started skating at West. But getting new skaters to drive from Cumberland County to Twin Ponds East is a PITA. Crosstown traffic is hell and with West gone, it's easier to put your kids in lacrosse.  There's entire generations ready to get on the ice if a Cumberland County rink is managed well. Hope BB considers it.

[Guest]

Kids will go to York but not TPE?  That makes no sense.  Vipers and Hershey are a disaster that's why kids go elsewhere.  Hopefully BB will combine those programs and make one good one so we have a good local option

[Guest]

Why is Hershey disaster?  That used to be Gold standard for AA in the District. What happened?

[Guest]

Hershey, Quakers, Brick, Hollydell, etc all fallen on hard times after being strong AA late 90’s, early 00’s, this is what happens when non hockey people get involved combined with facilities that have own agenda.

[Guest]

Kids will go to York, Palmyra, Jr. Flyers AFTER they have been initiated into hockey and that happens at a young age, when parents are first considering sports for their kids. Unless you are a parent who says "I'm putting my 6 year old on ice no matter what" you are more likely to go for the low-hanging fruit, the lacrosse or soccer team or Tball down the road. There aren't a lot of dyed in the wool hockey or skating families in Central PA. Most start because they wandered onto to an easy public ice session. That's not happening any more with kids from Cuumberland County, and without some huge effort to get kids while they are young, convince parents new to the sport to sit in traffic at rush hour or give up Saturdays to cross the river for a new-to-them sport for their 6yo, that $$$ and player pipeline will dry up. Your motivated and talented athletes are indoctrinated in other sports and travel league funnels by 8 or 9 years old, if not younger. They aren't searching out hockey that's a PITA to get to.

[Guest]

Black Bear will purchase this rink next................?

[Guest]

York

[Guest]

Black Bear will purchase this rink next................?

Bridgewater