New Boulder Valley Complex on the Horizon The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be one of Colorado’s finest


By Paul Willis Y


ou can debate all you want about which youth hockey facility on the Front Range


is the best, as long as you understand that the debate will be moot within a year’s time. Soon, there will be no question. Plans are in the works to replace the ex-


isting Boulder Valley facility, located on the southeast side of the McCaslin exit on Inter- state 36, with a new, state-of-the-art complex that will blow the others to bits. Think of it as groundbreaking to Colorado


youth hockey as the Dallas Cowboys new sta- dium is to NFL venues, with its 17-billion-foot megapixel scoreboard, or whatever it is. There are a few final hurdles to climb -


roughly $16 million of the necessary $18 mil- lion has been committed and there are a few logistical mat- ters to iron out with the town of Superior - but the project is real and very much immi- nent. “Our goal is


to break ground by next sum- mer, or maybe as sooner, and have one sheet of ice open by the first quarter of 2013,” said Boulder Valley Hockey Foundation president Dennis Hefter. “We’ve raised enough money now, I believe, to where it’s beyond the point of whether or not it’s going to happen.” We’re talking two NHL-sized sheets of ice,


The existing facility was built as a tem-


porary fix in 2003 when many parents of the Boulder Valley program, including Hefter, grew weary of limited ice time and helped donate to the project. The structure was deemed a few- year solution, but now is in its eighth year of operation. Many of those same parents, along with oth-


ers closely linked to the program, helped get the new project kick-started, but needed someone with experience who was willing to put in a full- time commitment. Enter Luke Taylor, who is the president


of the Ice Ranch in Littleton (hence the “Ice Ranch” in the new name). The Littleton facil- ity is the newest in the Denver area, a 62,000- sqaure-foot structure that opened in October of 2007 and recently added a Starbucks. The


clientele. The vast array of locker rooms will include


some for women only. There will be a 60’ x 85’ practice area for kids to receive on-ice lessons during the season. You’re beginning to get the picture: The


facility will be posh, picturesque and first-class. It will play host to the Boulder Valley pro- gram, naturally, as well as the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders of the Tier I Elite League and the Western States Hockey League’s Boulder Jr. Bison, among others. Hefter had visions of such a facility after


transplanting to Boulder from Philadelphia in 1997. His kids were 5 and 4 at the time, and his ambitions of allowing them to grow up with skates and sticks were being curtailed by the shortage of available ice.


“There


came a time in 2000 when the Boulder Valley parents came to the conclusion that we either needed to pack this thing in or get our own facility,” Hefter said. That’s when


The Ice Ranch at Boulder Valley, which organizers hope will be up and running by early 2013, will serve as home base for the Boulder Valley youth association, Rocky Mountain RoughRiders and Boulder Jr. Bison, among other programs.


new Boulder facility is blueprinted at 142,000 square feet, more than double the size. “When we did the one in Littleton, it was the


one of which can be converted to a turf field to accommodate lacrosse, soccer or convention- type functions. A restaurant-bar. A snack bar. A pro shop. Twenty-three locker rooms. Tentatively, it’s being dubbed the Ice Ranch


at Boulder Valley, although Superior could insist on having its name included (Visit You- Tube.com and search Ice Ranch at Boulder Val- ley to see a 3D flythrough of the plan).


first one we’d ever done and we got about 85 percent of it right,” Taylor said. “We’re basically correcting the 15 percent we got wrong and ex- panding on some of the concepts that did better than expected. For example, the viewing areas for the fans will be significantly better than what we did in Littleton.” The larger rink will begin with about 1,000


seats and will be left with room to expand to up to 2,000. The restaurant will include an adjoining party room for teams that want to have their own function apart from the regular


they compiled donations and built the current structure. It’ll


remain in place as the new one is built on the surrounding 10-acre lot, but soon will be just a memory of adequacy and serviceability. A chief difference with the new one - other


than the size and quality - is that it’s being financed through investors, through equity and debt. While the Ice Ranch at Boulder Valley will operate the facility, investors will have stock in how well it does. For local hockey players, though, none of


that is an issue; they’re just counting down the days until their new palace is a reality. “We still have a little more equity to raise,


but, when that’s done, we’ll get a shovel in the ground,” Taylor said.


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