Arena focusing on hockey

DANVILLE — David S. Palmer Arena officials are trying to focus on a hockey team, and that’s taken up a lot of time right now.

They’ve sent out a request for proposal for a hockey team. Proposals are due back by April 22.

Arena General Manager Teri Gaffney said she’s sure they’ll hear from Danville Dashers’ owner Barry Soskin’s group, with the team having been with the Federal Prospects Hockey League.

The arena sent the proposal request to various groups.

Gaffney said just as a lot of the public wants to see hockey return.

“We do too,” she said. “It’s a great event. There’s so many opportunities here.”

“Whatever we get, we want to do it the right way,” Gaffney said. “We’re not going to be rushed into any decision.”

She said what happened with the Vermilion County Bobcats wasn’t fair to anybody.

“It was a heartbreaking night; a heartbreaker,” she said.

The arena also hosts Danville Youth Hockey, which is expanding.

“They are a phenomenal group,” Gaffney said.

She said very few people do you see drop their kids off for a practice. They come in the door too and are there with their children, helping them out.

The youth hockey has camps, jamborees and various events through the year and summer too. Gaffney said the arena is leaving the ice up longer, through around the end of July.

“It’s so family oriented,” she added of Danville Youth Hockey.

She said she sees these adults are raising their children right. Emergency medical personnel and an ambulance had to be called for two different health emergencies during a Saturday jamboree, including for a four-month-old who stopped breathing. During the last game of the day, the youth hockey players from Danville and other towns put the name of the child on their sticks, knelt and prayed in the middle of the ice, she said.

Gaffney said there wasn’t a dry eye in the arena.

Future ice time for hockey teams will depend on what happens with a team coming back to the arena.

Gaffney said they have a basketball court they also will put back in use. They’ve thought of maybe having a pool tournament.

The arena recently hosted Easter at the Arena.

Gaffney said that great community event takes the arena down for about two weeks. They have to put the floor down, and they take the glass out around the arena floor.

The staff at the arena includes a facility manager who has three full-time employees he supervises. There also are employees only called to work when needed, including the concession manager, bar manager and security supervisor and staff.

Other events coming up: 2023 Frolics with the 217 Committee on April 22, D102 Duck Out Event on April 27, Career Expo on April 28, Boys & Girls Club cornhole tournament fundraiser on April 29, and Danville Movies at the Arena on May 13.

The arena sees a wide variety of usage by the public and visitors.

Gaffney said that’s why they try a variety of events to get people into the arena. Meeting rooms also have groups use them, such as Vermilion Advantage and yoga classes.

With the arena being an older building, they deal with continuing maintenance.

The arena will be applying for a Back to Business COVID-19 pandemic recovery grant.

The arena also received $80,000 from the city in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Gaffney said they are holding the money to look at events or general operations.

“We are going to use it the right way,” she said, adding that the board is looking at options of investing it in a big concert or using it for something else.

Building needs include improving the arena’s heating system.

The arena still has some Julius W. Hegeler II money in the account for signage. With the riverfront project and different utilities where they thought the digital signage could be placed, the once planned digital sign that was discussed to be on Main Street west of the arena, is now planned to come back closer to the building.

A project completed last year was the purchase of new flooring on top of the ice.

Gaffney said he’s learned more about the ice than she thought she would ever know. Education for the employees is important, she said.

She said she hopes the public gives the arena an opportunity for the future. They’re trying to correct some of the past.

She added that a pick-up hockey league has been discussed, the arena is rejoining an ice-skating organization, and youth ice skating lessons open up the door for other things too.

Every day the arena employees have a management huddle. They go through what happened at the arena during events, what they are working on, what they are hearing about the arena and how can they solve it.

Gaffney said maybe not everyone’s happy at the end of the discussion, but it’s a good open discussion and everybody is heard.

She said obviously they have challenges, such as in finding a hockey team, but she’s optimistic about the arena’s future.

The arena is for the community, she said.

“That is our vision, to be a safe, family-friendly place in the community, and that’s what I think we’re trying to get back to,” she said. “And we probably always were; we just didn’t show it. So, we have to show it because that’s what we need to be.”