The Summit

The Summit

Location: Diamondale, MI
Seating Capacity: 1000

The next arena that I will be covering in my blog is The Summit Sports Complex, which used to be home to the Captial Centre Pride.

I played hockey with the Capital Centre Pride for over five years at The Summit. It became my home rink, even though I lived 45 minutes away from it. I became the player that I am today because of the coaches and teammates that I had during my time with the Pride.

The complex is a multipurpose facility. It houses two ice arenas, two indoor soccer fields, and a gymnastics gymnasium. It was very convenient for us because there is also a fitness center that is located upstairs, so we had easy access to a gym for training. We would also utilize the soccer fields and run sprints and other conditioning drills on them. There was also a Perani's in the building when I was growing up, which is a hockey player's candy store. They sold all types of equipment, and when I was younger I would go into the store and try out all of the new sticks that came in. Fellow hockey players can relate to this. It was all we could ask for as youth hockey players. We had all the amenities that we could possibly need to become elite hockey players.

One of the arenas is an Olympic-sized arena. This means that the dimensions are 200" x 100" instead of 200" x 85". While it may not seem like a lot, the 15ft makes all the difference in the world, especially when you're a little kid. There was so much more room to skate and make plays on that ice surface. The only downfall came when it was time for conditioning drills. Those were the worst because the ice was so large. That rink also has a curling court painted on the ice surface because the arena hosts curling tournaments throughout the winter. There are tall stands on one side of the arena and there are windows behind one of the zones for spectators to watch.

The other arena is an NHL-sized arena and the stands are much smaller. For whatever reason, this arena was always

much colder than the larger one, which made for uncomfortable morning practices. We would alternate on which arena that we would play on given the availability of them. Both arenas are very well lit and the ice is awesome. I still skate at The Summit in the summer with one of my old hockey coaches and the ice stays hard throughout the hot weather.

To be honest, The Summit is probably my favorite arena. Obviously I am a little biased because I played there for five years; however, it had all the essentials that I needed to develop. And even though it is a trek from my house, I enjoy making the trip from Jackson, MI to Lansing, MI. There is something about it that gives me a sense of nostalgia.

CCP

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- Joshua Lammon

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