Blackhawks Heat Up Local Ice, With Some Surprises

The Chicago Blackhawks' runaway success this year is having different impacts on local ice rinks and hockey businesses.

As the Blackhawks head into the Stanley Cup playoffs, lots of fans are plunking down $125 for jerseys ($65 for youth sizes) at Gunzo's Hockey Headquarters in Morton Grove.

But the situation at two indoor ice rinks, Niles Park District's IceLand and Skokie Park District's Skatium, is more complicated. And it's not a runaway success.

Niles' Iceland: Maybe we maxed out in 2010

At IceLand in Niles, general manager Marty Stankowicz said the number of kids and adults registering to play hockey this season is stable--not decreasing, but not increasing, either. 

Business was brisk after the Hawks captured the Stanley Cup in Spring 2010. In Fall 2010, Iceland had about a 100 percent increase in kids registering for hockey classes and leagues, Stankowicz said.

But this season, the pace slowed.

"Earlier this season (the National Hockey League) had the lockout, and kids' hockey registrations for Fall and Winter 2012 were lower than Fall and Winter 2011," he said.

"Now they're coming back, but it's summer."

Earlier: NHL Is On Ice, But Gunzo's Hockey Keeps Cool

Traditionally, summer is a slow time for hockey, since most people want to play outdoor sports, he explained, though Iceland offers a low-key option for kids--a once-a-week hockey league, with all games and no practices.

Stankowicz speculates that after the 2010 upsurge of registrations, interest in the sport may have maxed out.

"Hopefully it'll be back up for fall," he ventured.

Skokie's Skatium: Adults flocking to hockey ice, but not kids

Steve Glickman, general manager of the Skatium, says the pace of people registering to play hockey has increased in the past four years or so, since the team has improved.

But few of the new hockey players are children--and even fewer are children who live in Skokie.

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"It's incredible how much adult hockey has picked up," he said. "If I were to put a number on it, I'd say we've seen 30 percent growth in hockey for kids, and about double that for adults."

A lot of the new players are people in their 40s and 50s who skated as kids and remembered the Bobby Hull-Stan Mikita Blackhawks heyday in the 1960s and 70s, he said.

As to why kids are not registering, Glickman says Skokie's demographic has changed. Wilmette has more young families with kids interested in sports, he said.

"In our program we have 7.2 percent of kids with Skokie addresses," he said. Eighty-five percent of youth participants are from Chicago's Northwest side, Morton Grove and elsewhere. 

Like many other suburban ice rinks, the Skatium is in the Rink Partners program with the Blackhawks. In exchange for a putting Blackhawks publicity in the stadium, the Blackhawks send out a player for an appearance. Denis Savard has come out twice, and Eddie Olczyk came before that. 

Gunzo's sales heating up
 
At Gunzo's, on Dempster in Morton Grove, there are no caveats. Sales associate Ed Block said sales of Blackhawks jerseys and hockey sticks and other gear have been very strong. Some jerseys come with the names of popular players on the back. Others are blank, and you can have your own name imprinted in either a heat-transfer process, which takes a couple of days, or a stitched-on process, which can take about three weeks, at an additional charge.

"A lot of little kids are getting excited about hockey, and a lot of adults are getting back into hockey," he said. "We're definitely regaining some of the sales we didn't get when they had the lockout."

Checking a schedule, he said the Blackhawks played 46 games starting Jan. 19, after the lockout ended. 

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