Fire up the Zambonis: Skylands Ice World re-opens

STOCKHOLM - When Skylands Ice World opened in Stockholm during the fall of 2004, it filled a big void in the community. The skating rink/entertainment center was one of a kind in Sussex County and area hockey teams no longer had to travel to Wayne or points beyond to practice and play ‘home’ games. Although the facility appeared to do brisk business through its public skating rink, adjacent hockey rink and birthday parties, management shut its doors the following spring due to “financial problems” that were never explained by the owners. But in June, a new ownership group headed by businessman Greg Brandner purchased the arena, and public skating was re-opened on Labor Day weekend. While the new Skylands Ice World will continue to host birthday parties and other events, the new management team is taking a decidedly different approach to running the operation. “The main difference between us and the previous owners is that they were restaurant and food-services guys whereas we are businessmen and hockey guys,” said Bradford Johnson, Skyland’s new general manager. “We believe the business is totally sustainable with two sheets of ice. But we have this incredible opportunity called a second floor where we have a 20,000-square-foot party area that almost no one else has,” he said. “If you don’t focus on the ice opportunities first and foremost, then the other operations won’t develop properly,” added Brandner, who declined to disclose the purchase price for the business. Even though the facility is a “hockey-centric building,” as Johnson puts it, the new management has assembled a variety of programs for other types of skaters. In addition to public skating, Skylands will offer figure skating lessons and Learn-to-Skate programs on Saturday mornings beginning Oct. 7. An adult hockey league is scheduled to begin later in October. In addition, Skylands has already introduced Ice Jam, a New York-style club atmosphere for adolescent kids who can choose between blading to the music or kicking back on couches that will be spread out across the ice on Friday and Saturday nights from 8:30 to 11 p.m. The new Skylands Ice World is also extending its entertainment services beyond birthday parties, says Johnson. The facility, which boasts a wireless network, can play host to corporate events and has already booked its first Bar Mitzvah, he said. The entertainment center includes an indoor playground, an arcade and the Coyote Café which offers burgers, pizza and other foods. New management has decided not to re-open the laser tag area that was previously used. Skylands Ice World, which will hold its official grand re-opening on Saturday, Sept. 30 with a raffle and a new pro shop, has already signed up multiple high school and youth hockey teams to make use of its twin rinks. Youth and town hockey leagues that are using the facility for practices and games include Sparta, Vernon, Kinnelon, Jefferson and West Milford, plus the Jesters, which represents Franklin Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff. Another youth hockey league with members that will lace up their skates here are the Hardyston Minors, created to allow kids from smaller towns, such as Franklin, to field a team, said Johnson. The anchor tenant among high school hockey teams is Pope John, although other high school teams including Vernon, Sparta, High Point, Kinnelon, Lakeland, West Milford and Pequannock will also call Skylands home ice. Pope John’s hockey team used Skylands for two seasons before the facility was shut down and the team had to move to an arena in Hackettstown. But the proximity of the arena to its campus and the professionalism of the facility’s new management team has drawn the team back, said coach Ryan Brown. “Both sets of ownership have treated us very well,” he said. Because the original Skylands Ice World opened after the West Milford Bears Hockey Organization had started its 2004-2005 season, the hockey club wasn’t able to use the facility, says President Mark Crevina. After practicing and playing at the Ice Vault in Wayne last year, the Bears’ teams have committed to playing at Skylands from September through March, he added. For more information about programs at Skylands Ice World, go to www.skylandsiceworldnj.com. or call 973-697-1600.