With the Winter Olympics still in full swing – and with the U.S. raking in enough medals to fill a pirate's chest – many here in North America's original Vancouver have turned their attentions toward bundling up and strapping on blades in an effort to capture some of that competitive magic.
"Our business cycles around the Olympics," said Bob Knoerl, manager and owner of the on S.E. Mill Plain Mountain View Ice Arena in east Vancouver. "It hits an uptick especially when a hockey star like Chris Drury or a figure skater like Michelle Kwan steals everyone's heart."
However, Mountain View's business isn't all casual drop-ins, according to Knoerl. It's also an outlet for the devoted skating community in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, which includes speed skating clubs, hockey teams and even a few young Olympic hopefuls – a group of athletes that has only four indoor facilities in the region to hit the ice year round.
In Vancouver the choices are even more limited, with Mountain View being the only rink in the county.
Opened in 1998, Knoerl bought Mountain View from City Bible Church in 2008. According to Knoerl, the Portland-based fellowship stumbled across the two-rink facility during a search for a Clark County location. While the church closed down one rink to construct a new campus, the congregation left the other rink open to provide community entertainment.
"They called me with an offer, saying they wanted to get out of the ice rink business and focus on the God business," Knoerl said.
For Knoerl and his wife, Lisa Mizonick, Mountain View was just the right opportunity. Already experienced at managing ice arenas, the couple soon got down to work, transforming what Knoerl called a "disarrayed" arena into a 300-person capacity landmark for Clark County's skating community.
According to Knoerl, over the last two years the business has grown by leaps and bounds, with sales up 18 percent in the last quarter. Knoerl attributed the bump in revenue to the "staycation" phenomenon, where money that would have been spent on travel outside the region is instead routed to local entertainment venues or through home improvements.
With prices starting at $10 per person, including skate rentals, the average family can have a "staycation" for well under $100. For the more dedicated crowd, Mountain View also offers full-ice rink rentals for parties, amateur hockey teams and personal training sessions.
According to Knoerl, former Junior U.S. ice dancing champions Madeline Heritage and Nathaniel Fast spent up to four hours every morning for years at Mountain View to train for this year's U.S. Figure Skating Championship. The pair finished ninth, missing the cut to compete in the Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C.
"That's the kind of thing we want to encourage," Knoerl said. "People taking what they see at the Olympics [and] turning their dreams into reality here."
