COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization is expanding skating sports opportunities by adding a second rink to Frontier Ice Arena.  

“We have simply maxed out our available ice,” KYRO President Vince Hughes said.

The $5.3 million project has secured $1.7 million, allowing construction to begin, but an additional $3.7 million is needed for the expansion.      

Frontier Ice Arena serves youth, adults and families through programs including hockey, sled hockey, curling, figure skating, family skating and birthday parties.  

Hughes said the organization has never been afraid to go after a solution when it comes to recreation.  

The original KYRO arena lasted from 2001-2008 until the roof collapsed during a snowfall in December 2008. 

The nonprofit rebuilt in 2012 and plans were implemented to allow for growth, Hughes said.

“We knew that eventually we’d get to the point where we’d need a second sheet of ice,” Hughes said. 

After the build is complete, the panels will be removed so both rinks are visible from the lobby.   

The two-sheet arena project includes a second NHL-sized ice sheet, nine locker rooms and allows for seating up to 700 people in the 2012 refurbished arena, which was 34,000 square feet. 

Construction is underway. The structure of the second rink is expected to be largely complete by fall.

CDA Hockey Academy President Shawn Luteyn said the second sheet of ice will change everything for area ice sports.  

“The interest is there. The kids are there. The families are there, but what we don’t have is enough ice,” Luteyn said.  

Tyler Karchut and other athletes from the CDA Hockey Academy Youth Council spoke about the need for more ice time for competitive play. 

“We need to grow a bigger community in hockey and figure skating,” Karchut said. “This new rink means more than just your skill, your play, anything that you do. It makes us all a family and with a bigger family, that means the community is tied in.”

Moe Herr, executive director of Lake City Learn to Skate, said she was proud to be representing Spokane Figure Skating Club.

For 15 years, the group has called Frontier Arena its home and now introduces basic skating to about 400 skaters annually. 

“While the passion is here, Coeur d’Alene is currently a skating desert, making competitive and performance opportunities difficult and expensive to attend,” Herr said.  

Learn more about the project or make a donation at https://www.givefrontiericearena.org/.

    Members of Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization, CDA Hockey Academy, Lake City Learn to Skate and members of the community celebration the beginning of the build for the second NHL-size sheet at Frontier Ice Rink.
 

  

    Gunnar Podollan, Tyler Karchut and Kade Ziemendorf of CDA Hockey Academy Youth Council address the audience about how the second rink will benefit local hockey at the Frontier Ice Rink.