Home Sweet Home

Optimist Ice Arena

Location: Jackson, MI


The next, and final, arena that I will be analyzing in my blog is the Optimist Ice Arena, which used to be home to the Jackson Generals.

I learned to skate and play ice hockey at Optimist Arena. I began skating there when I was three years old and never looked back. The facility was my home arena until I was 10 years old, when I began playing hockey out of The Summit in Lansing. That didn't stop me from skating at Optimist, however, as I continued to skate there during the summer and at sticks and pucks.

I played house hockey in the arena until I was 7, and then I began playing travel hockey for the Jackson Generals at the age of 8. I played there for two seasons and was fortunate enough to be voted captain by my teammates. I had a great time with the Generals, but I had an opportunity to play with the Lansing Pride, which I took advantage of. Before leaving to play in Lansing, I would spend at least 4 nights a week at the Optimist Ice Arena. The hockey community in Jackson was like a family when I was younger. There were tons of house and travels teams that skated out of there. On the weekends, the rink would be packed from 7am until 11pm at night with game after game. It was an awesome environment and it definitely helped fuel my passion for the game.

There are two rinks in the arena. The "South Rink" is the older one. It underwent renovations when I was younger which brought it up to par with the "North Arena." The south arena has a press box located above the benches and has seating on one side of the arena. The lighting is much darker in this arena for some reason, but the ice is always excellent. The quality of the ice is the best feature of Optimist Ice Arena. The staff keeps the arenas cold; therefore, the ice stays hard and doesn't get chopped up as fast. One cool feature of the South Rink is that it has a Zamboni door that rises straight up electrically. Most arenas have doors that must be opened by the rink staff manually, but this allows them to push a button like a garage door.

The "North Rink" is newer and has more seating available for fans. The locker rooms are not overly spacious but they get the job done. There are four locker rooms for each rink and there are private locker rooms for the local high school hockey teams of Jackson High and Lumen Christi. I'm not certain of the maximum seating capacity of the arena but there is definitely a significant amount of seating. I'm a firm believer that Optimist Ice Arena would be a good venue for a junior hockey team, particularly a NAHL or NAHL3 team. There is a strong hockey community in Jackson, and I believe that there would be enough support to fund the team, but that's besides the point.

I fell in love with the game at Optimist Ice Arena in Jackson and even though I left at a young age to
play elsewhere, I owe it to that building for shaping me into the player that I am today. I still occasionally skate there in the summer time, and it always brings me joy to see little kids hopping on the ice with big smiles because it brings me back on my childhood. I hope that they find the same love for hockey, or whatever else in their lives, as I did for the game. I think it is fitting that I end my blog on the arena that started it all for me. I want to thank all of my teammates, coaches, and arena staff members for helping me along the way; I would not have done it without you.

And this brings me to the conclusion of my blog, Within the Glass. I hope that you have enjoyed my reflections on the venues that I have played in during my hockey career. I have had tremendous joy in sharing these posts with you guys, and if any of you are considering writing a blog, I would highly recommend doing so. Write about anything, whether is very personal and intimate, or just something you're passionate or curious about. I think it is an important and helpful habit to get in to.

For the last time, I want to thank you for following my blog throughout this semester. Although I will not longer be adding posts to this blog, I am still writing blog posts for a website called Wiser Fans. You can check out this link and you will be able to see my posts about the NHL. Thanks again!

- Joshua Lammon

The Nelly

Nelson Center

Springfield, IL
Opened:1993
Seating Capacity: 2100

The next arena I will be covering in my blog is the Nelson Center, which is home to the Springfield Junior Blues of the North American Hockey League.

I played for two seasons with the Jr. Blues in the NAHL. We skated out of the Nelson Center, which is a public skating arena that is surrounded by a water park, soccer fields, and Frisbee course. It was not the most jaw-dropping arena by any means, but it was my home for two years. It is completely different from all of the arenas that I have covered in my blog so far. It felt like a junior arena. It was not too small so that it felt like a youth hockey arena; yet, it was not enormous so it felt like playing in a professional venue. It was...just right.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a public water park adjacent to the arena, so our locker room served as a changing area in the summer time and as an ice hockey locker room in the fall and winter. While this may seem bizarre, the locker room was very spacious. The biggest downfall of that locker room was the warm water, or lack thereof. The showers would not get warm unless they ran for roughly 20 minutes. We had to use broken hockey sticks and turn them into a "shower stick" that would hold the shower nozzle on and keep the water running. Luckily, this job was delegated to the rookies so I didn't have to worry about it my second year.

The arena had seating on both sides of the ice. On one side, the seating was old wooden bleachers, and the other had new aluminum seating. Personally, I liked the look of the wooden side better. I would sit in the stands, isolated, for about a half an hour before every game and just stare onto the ice envisioning every scenario in my head. The arena had a concession stand across from the benches, but on the side of the rink where I dressing room was. As we would come onto the ice before the game and between intermissions, the fans would line up and give us high fives. It is a pretty proud feeling knowing that fans, who have no idea who we are, come and pay to watch us play the game we love. In a sense, it made me feel like a professional player having little kids idolize us.

The ice surface was always pretty good during the colder months; however, at the beginning of the season it would still be warm outside which made the ice very slushy. There was also a large conference room on the opposite side of the benches that had glass windows. If the sun was sitting just right, these windows would make for very bad glares on the ice. The size of the arena was nothing out of the ordinary. It felt like the perfect size. Not too big, not too small. The boards and glass were also nothing special. They were not dead like some of the arenas I have written about, but at the same time they were not nearly as lively as others.

Most teams hated coming to play us in the Nelson Center. Granted, the opposing teams' locker room is nothing to write home about. But I loved playing in that arena. It felt like home to me and I would not have been opposed to playing all 120 of my NAHL games in that arena. I'm glad that I had the privilege of calling the Nelson Center my home for two seasons, and I want to thank all of the Springfield Jr. Blues coaches, players, billet families, and fans for making my time in Springy a memorable one. I'm proud to say I served as your captain for a season, and I wish for all the best in the future.

Go Blues!

Thank you for your continued support of my blog. Please feel free to share with your friends and family!

  

-       Joshua Lammon