Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinConstruction is underway on the Bend Park & Recreation Districtís ice pavilion at the corner of Simpson and Colorado avenues.

John Laherty grew up in Detroit playing hockey. When he moved to sport-obsessed Bend a few years back, he looked for an adult hockey league to join, but came up short.

“It was something of a disappointment. It was unexpected, too,” said Laherty, president of Bend Ice, a group working to promote ice sports in Central Oregon. “Given Bend’s reputation as a four-season sports mecca, there’s an assumption that of course there’s hockey here. Then you move here and find out there’s not.”

That will change this fall with the opening of Bend Park & Recreation District’s ice pavilion, now under construction at the corner of Simpson and Colorado avenues. Registration began Monday for youth skating and hockey classes (ages 6 to 14; $70 for district residents) and adult coed hockey and curling leagues ($270/$150 for district residents). Bend Ice also plans to host a competitive youth hockey program as well as youth and adult figure skating and curling programs at the new rink.

The $11.4 million facility was funded through the district’s $29 million bond approved in 2012.

It is designed to operate as a covered ice rink in winter and a multisport complex in warmer months, with courts for pickleball, basketball, tennis and other activities. The “ice season” would run November through March and the facility would close for a few weeks on either end of that period to make the switch between winter and summer operations. The park district’s website promises a refrigeration system with more than 2 miles of tubing “to ensure quality ice condition even in marginal weather conditions.”

Kevin Collier, the park district’s sports coordinator, said his department is still trying to gauge demand for ice sports and that more classes could be added. There will also be plenty of time for open skating sessions throughout the week.

“We don’t know at this point what the popularity of these programs will be,” he said. “We can anticipate, but we won’t know until it opens.”

Skating culture may take time to catch on. This will be the first NHL regulation-sized rink east of the Cascades in Oregon, though there are smaller rinks in Bend, Sunriver and Redmond. (“One pass and you’re down the ice at Sunriver,” Laherty joked.) While the park district will have 500 pairs of ice and hockey skates for children and adults for rent, few local sports equipment stores carry skates, though some said they would consider adding them.

Blaise Cacciola, a Bend Ice board member who grew up playing hockey in New Hampshire, said he drives to Portland to buy skates or orders tons of gear online, only to return most of it.

Clinton Cheney, store manager at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Bend, said what few skates he has in stock — “There’s literally one or two pairs” — came from people who bought online and returned them to the store. Cheney said he plans to appeal to his corporate bosses to start selling skates and hockey gear.

“If I can build a good enough case, then we will,” he said.

The pavilion is scheduled to open Nov. 30. Registration is also open for the park district’s other fall programs, which run Sept. 1 through late December, on the district’s website or in person at its office on SW Colorado Street, at the Juniper Swim & Fitness Center and Bend Senior Center.

— Reporter: 541-617-7837,

aspegman@bendbulletin.com