Abigail Menser was about 18 months old the first time she skated at Mentor Ice Arena. Her grandfather would bring her, and she’d use a bucket to balance herself on the ice. So, she was practically a veteran when she started Learn to Skate lessons at three.
Abigail is now 11 and a competitive figure skater. The ice arena has become her second home as it has for generations of skaters in and around Mentor.
“It’s been amazing for Abigail,” her mother Stacy said. “She has gained a ton of self-confidence. She’s also learned to be competitive but compassionate too.”
For more than 40 years, the Mentor Ice Arena has provided a home base for figure skaters, synchronized skaters, hockey players, their families, and fans. It also hosts open skates and birthday parties for more casual skaters who are looking for somewhere cool to chill.
It’s been a crucial locale in the community for decades, though it has a humble origin. It began with a field by the fire station that would often flood and then freeze in winter. As the ice attracted more skaters, the city decided to build a rink to accommodate them. The arena opened on September 18, 1982, to a line that ran out the door. Popularity necessitated growth, and the arena added a second rink in 1998.
Mentor Ice Arena remains in demand. It hosts the second most popular Learn to Skate program in Ohio with more than 400 participants.
It also serves as home ice for several youth hockey league and high school teams, including Mentor High School and Lake Catholic. The arena is festooned with the championship banners those teams have earned over the decades.
The arena also hosts parties, open skates, special events, and even the occasional turkey roll. Kenn Kaminski — the city of Mentor’s director of parks, recreation, and public facilities — said his favorite arena memory is when Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan visited the arena in 2022.
“I had fond memories of her skating for the United States in the Olympics, and it was great seeing her skating at our arena with all in attendance,” Kaminski said. “She did a great job and was very appreciative of all that we did for the youth skating community.”
Over 300,000 people pass through the Mentor Ice Arena’s doors each year!
Because of its popularity and tenure, it’s easy to forget how unique it is to have an ice arena of this scope and quality — with three rinks, an equipment shop, and concessions stand — in a city the size of Mentor.
“Of all of the rinks in the Cleveland area, just a small handful can boast two NHL-sized rinks and a studio rink,” explained Bill Furman, the arena’s manager. “Having two regulation sheets of ice not only offers the best ability to accommodate all of our local users, but it also enables us to attract many large outside events and competitions.”
And those events boost more than Mentor Ice Arena. This season alone, the arena hosted four youth hockey showcases and two annual tournaments, collectively called the Ice of March, run by the Mentor Youth Hockey Booster Club.
“These six weekends involved many out-of-town participants,” Furman said. “They stay in our hotels. They eat in our restaurants. And they fuel up and shop locally. We also host skating competitions that bring teams into our community.”
And the tournaments continue to grow in scope. Next year, the arena will host one with 45 teams from outside Ohio. That’s a lot of visitors!
Of course, Mentor Ice Arena has grown alongside the city. Kerin Smith has enjoyed a front-row seat to those changes. She spent as many as six days a week there when both of her children (Shaun, 16, and Abby, 12) played hockey.
“Both of my children started with the Learn to Skate Program. Shaun was 6 and Abby was 3. It was extremely helpful and was a great way to introduce them to the ice,” Smith said.
The city continues to invest in the arena that brings so many to Mentor, and renovations including new benches and fresh paint are noticed and appreciated by the masses who visit.
As a hockey mom, Smith has visited her share of rinks, and Mentor Ice Arena hangs in the top tier.
“It is always clean, updated, and just gives off a really welcoming vibe,” she said. “The staff is by far the best of any arena I have ever been to. They really take pride in it.”
Similarly, Menser has spent a lot of the last 11 years inside Mentor Ice Arena and calls it her second home. It isn’t just a place where her kids learned to skate. It’s where they learned about themselves.
“The arena is an amazing asset,” Menser said. “It’s made my child who she is today.”
For more information visit www.mentoricearena.com or call 440-974-5730.