Skating on Empty: The Fight for Ice and the Future of Northern Colorado Hockey at The Ranch.
By Portia Cook
RCS Hockey team- Resurrection Christian School at Noco Ice Center. Courtesy of Portia Cook, Strategic Communications.
The sound hits first—the scrape of skates on fresh ice, the tap of a puck on a stick, the echo of voices across the rink. In Northern Colorado, those sounds are more than the start of practice. They are the soundtrack of a community fighting for the chance to play the game it loves.
And they’re part of a nationwide surge. In the 2024-25 season, USA Hockey registered 577,864 players, a 2.4% increase over last year. Of those, nearly 400,000 were youth under 19, an all-time high. The fastest growth is happening at the youngest levels: registrations for players six and under climbed nearly 10%, and participation among girls and women rose to 98,394 players nationwide, a 5.1% jump. Hockey isn’t just holding steady, it’s expanding, and more families than ever are trying to find ice. (USA Hockey)
However, in Northern Colorado, growth has outpaced infrastructure. Families know the reality all too well: ice time is scarce, waitlists are long, and the sacrifices to keep playing are real. Fort Collins has two sheets at EPIC and one at the NoCo Ice Center. Windsor adds another, and Greeley has the single-sheet Ice Haus. That’s four permanent rinks serving a region where hundreds of kids are waiting for their turn.
A Coach’s Perspective: “Hundreds on Waitlists”
RCS Hockey team—Resurrection Christian School, courtesy of Cal Miller, RCS Head Coach.
At a bar table inside the NoCo Ice Center during an evening practice, Mcallaster “Cal” Miller, general manager of the RCS hockey program, laid out the challenge.
“We had 62 kids try out for one high school team,” he said. “And that doesn’t even cover all the active players. At every level—U8 through U18—there are waitlists because there are too many kids who want to play and not enough ice time. Hundreds of kids are told no every year.”
“Imagine showing up to your local rec center and being told you can’t play basketball because there’s no court. Or being told there’s no field for football. That’s what happens here, every year, to kids who want to play hockey,” he said.
He doesn’t mince words about the inequity. “The kids most affected are the ones who can’t afford elite club programs,” he said. “They’re the ones trying hockey for the first time, or just looking for a place to belong. Those are the kids we’re losing, and that’s wrong.”
He didn't pause when asked whether the waitlist numbers were in the dozens or the hundreds. “Hundreds…hundreds,” he said.
Miller ticked through the irony: the Avalanche won a Stanley Cup in 2022, DU captured its ninth national title, and Denver East won a high school championship.
Because of these wins, Colorado has become known nationally as a hockey state, drawing more kids to the sport every year. So why hasn't there been any new ice built?
“Those three new sheets at The Ranch won’t be too many,” he said. “They’ll get eaten up right away. But they’ll also say yes to hundreds of kids who’ve been told no. That’s the difference—it’s saying yes.”
The lack of ice is the root of the daily grind. “Our families are ready to not wake their kids up at 4:45 a.m. to get to practice,” he said. “And for the late-night practices, you finish around 10 p.m. You’re asking kids to be students and athletes while running them on empty. We can do better.”
After those late practices, it isn’t just lights out. There’s still the drive home, the shower, a quick bite, and homework. For many kids, bedtime doesn’t come until well after midnight, another direct result of the lack of ice.
He’s also seen the fallout firsthand. “Some players have to switch to online school just to balance hockey schedules,” he said. “That’s not right. It should never come to that.” The ice shortage, he added, isn’t just a youth problem: “It impacts adult leagues and recreational skaters too. Everyone is squeezed by the shortage.”
At its core, Miller sees this as a community responsibility. “It’s the responsibility of the community to support and address this,” he said. “We all exist to serve the community. Hockey has fallen short here for years, but it doesn’t have to stay that way.”
A Player’s Voice: “Belief in Myself”
RCS Hockey team- Resurrection Christian School at Noco Ice Center. Courtesy of Portia Cook, Strategic Communications.
Before practice, freshman varsity player Logan Dunham stepped out of the locker room to talk about his journey into hockey.
“I said, ‘No, don’t do it, don’t sign me up,’” he said of the day his mom registered him at age eight. “And she did it anyway. I ended up loving it.”
For Logan, hockey became a teacher as much as a sport. “It gave me belief in myself,” he said. “You can’t do something if you don’t believe in yourself, whether it’s scoring a goal or being a playmaker. And it taught me to communicate. Every year, it’s new people on your team—you have to learn how to talk and work together. That’s carried into my life at school too.”
What keeps him hooked, he says, is simple. “It’s so physical and fast-paced, which is perfect for me,” he said. “And you get a second family. You know all these kids, and they’re amazing.”
Logan has seen the strain firsthand. “This past year, Bantam Rec had a waitlist because there wasn’t enough ice time,” he said. Schedules also bounced from early evenings to late nights, making consistency nearly impossible.
The prospect of The Ranch’s new complex gives Logan hope. “More ice means more kids like me get to play,” he said. “It means you don’t have to wonder if there’s a spot. You know there will be one.”
A Parent’s Sacrifice: “4 A.M. Alarms and 45-Minute Drives”
RCS Hockey team—Resurrection Christian School, courtesy of Cal Miller, RCS Head Coach.
At the same bar table inside the NoCo Ice Center, Logan’s father, Denim, reflected on what the sport means to his family. “Camaraderie, brotherhood,” he said. “My son really enjoys the game. He enjoys lifting everybody up. That’s his passion, and he hasn’t found that anywhere else.”
But that pride comes with sacrifice. “You need ice time to play hockey,” he said. “The sacrifice sometimes is getting up at four o’clock in the morning to drive 45 minutes to an hour to get on the ice. Or you have a late practice or a late game where you take a doubleheader, and you do whatever you can to make it happen. This year, he’s got two 6 a.m. practices, and he’s got to drive 45 minutes after practice to get to class before school. He’s only a sophomore, so it’s a hard thing to do.”
Those sacrifices, Denim explained, aren’t optional—they’re the direct result of limited ice in Northern Colorado. With only four permanent sheets, every available hour is spoken for, leaving families like his to rearrange their lives around a schedule dictated by scarcity.
For Denim, The Ranch’s plan represents both relief and legacy. “The fact that it’s centrally localized, I guess, is definitely [important],” he said. “I’ve lived in Loveland for 40 years, and so we’ve always been a part of the fairgrounds, whether it was in Loveland or where it’s at now. And it’s exciting to have it, and it’s just availability, like, three extra sheets of ice. Is a lot of ice, and still, in my mind, not enough.”
Asked what he hopes for the future of youth hockey in Northern Colorado, he didn’t hesitate. More than anything, he said, he hopes for more programs that give kids the chance to learn the game and be part of a team.
“You cannot play the game of hockey as an individual,” he said. “It has to be a team, and it’s not just on the ice, it’s at home, it’s at school. I would hope that we get more programs. The programs we have are great, it’s just we don’t have enough of them, or enough space to support them.”
The Ranch’s Role: Building for the Future
The Ranch has long been a pillar of Northern Colorado, especially for youth. Through 4-H and its agricultural programs, generations of young people have found a place to grow skills, leadership, and community. Phase I of the Master Plan doubled down on that mission, delivering projects like the McKee 4-H Youth & Community Building and the Origin Arena (4-H Youth & Community Arena) to create spaces designed specifically for kids and families.
Phase II continues that legacy. The Youth Hockey and Sports Complex will add three full sheets of ice—enough to absorb the waitlists, reduce the 4 a.m. alarms, and restore what should already be basic access.
“This is an investment in our youth and the future of our community,” said Conor McGrath, The Ranch’s Managing Director. “It will bring families together, welcome visitors from across the region, and create opportunities that ripple far beyond the rink.”
More Than a Game
For Logan, hockey is confidence. For Denim, it’s sacrifice. For Cal, it’s equity. Together, they illustrate a community whose passion is ready to be matched by space.
One day soon, the first puck will drop on fresh ice at The Ranch. The scrape of skates and the cheer of the crowd will carry the dreams of a generation that has long waited for its chance.
Be part of the story. The Youth Hockey and Sports Complex at The Ranch is more than sheets of ice; it’s the foundation for the next generation of Colorado hockey. Visit treventscomplex.com/about/master-plan to learn how this vision is coming to life, and sign up for our monthly newsletter for construction updates, behind-the-scenes stories, and the heartbeat of this community as it continues to grow.