So Chill

Richmond is a city of sports enthusiasts, many eager to proclaim the baseball prowess of our beloved Flying Squirrels; the joys of soccer starring the Kickers, Strikers and Ivy; the city’s place in tennis history, thanks to Arthur Ashe; or our perfect nexus of college football fandom. But there’s a smaller community of athletes, business owners and enthusiasts who feel their sports have been, well, iced out.

It’s a common misconception that local interest in hockey, figure skating and other rink sports has been cooling. This year, the ice sports community is taking its shot at the hearts and minds of Richmonders with a flurry of new teams and facility improvements. Here’s what’s heating up across town.

Breaking the Ice

Girls skate into the male-dominated world of hockey

When Londyn Buske laces up her skates and glides onto the ice, she’s completely in her element. The 6-year-old has been hooked on hockey ever since joining her older brother during his practices last year. Londyn had so much fun that her mother, Heather, looked into more opportunities for her to play. 

Richmond Ice Zone, SkateNation Plus and Powhatan Ice Den all offered coed leagues, but Buske couldn’t find an all-girls team within two hours of Richmond. To get on the ice, Londyn joined the Powhatan Ice Den’s Polar Mites 6U team, for players 6 and under, donning a pink helmet and gloves while playing with mostly boys.  

“Skating is fun, and I like slipping around on the ice,” Londyn says. “I like to stop and turn and trick people to get the puck and score goals.”

While Londyn is relatively new to playing, she’s grown up around hockey. Before moving to Virginia, the Buskes lived in Odessa, Texas, where they volunteered as a billet family to host players from the local amateur hockey team. 

“We’ve kept up with them over the years,” Buske says of their tenant athletes. “Londyn wears jersey No. 37 after her favorite player, Connor Hellebuyck, who played for the Odessa Jackalopes and now plays goalie for the Winnipeg Jets.” 

Londyn is a passionate hockey fan as well as an enthusiastic player, known for her speed and grit. This fall, she finally got the opportunity to join an all-girls team: the Powhatan Ice Den’s 8U Little Mischief, the only one of its kind in the Richmond area. “This is a really big deal they’re doing this,” Buske says. “Londyn will be able to grow as this organization grows, and she’ll have more opportunities without having to travel hours in the car. We hope to get even more girls involved.”

A Shift on the Ice 

Londyn is one in a growing movement of girls breaking into the sport. USA Hockey, the governing body for ice hockey in America, reports that, of the roughly 400,000 players enrolled in youth hockey programs today, about 72,000, or 18%, are girls. By comparison, 5.7 million girls play youth soccer, representing 41% of all players, according to the marketing company For Soccer. 

While still a male-dominated sport, girls’ hockey has become one of the fastest-growing youth sports in the United States. USA Hockey reports a 65% participation increase since 2010. And last season, 5,000 more girls and women registered nationwide than the year before.  

While ice hockey was once solely concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast, these days more athletes are enrolling in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions and on the West Coast. USA Hockey found Virginia to be among the top 10 states for growth, joining other Southern states including Texas, Tennessee and North Carolina. 

“From a business perspective, female hockey players are untapped potential,” says Ryan Winfree, general manager of Powhatan Ice Den. “Interest is just exploding. These girls are competitive and are ready to play, and we want to make sure and have the space for them. That’s what we’ve been building the last several years.” 

Powhatan Ice Den, a single ice sheet rink opened in 2021, has recently introduced a women’s club for 3-on-3 games on Sundays. Twice a year, the rink also offers a free eight-week clinic for women and girls of all levels to learn to skate and play hockey.  

Londyn has already convinced her mom to join. “I definitely have to get faster if I want to keep up with her on the ice,” Buske says with a laugh. 

To lead the new girls’ team in Powhatan, Winfree recruited Michelle Walton, who played competitive AAA youth hockey. “She is all in,” Winfree says. “She didn’t get the chance growing up in Richmond to play competitively on an all-girls team, and she can’t wait to help give girls in our area that opportunity.” 

Since opening, Powhatan Ice Den has become known for its training and development programs. Next summer, the organization will open its sister rink, the Richmond Ice Box, with an NHL-sized rink to host competitive youth hockey, figure skating and regional hockey tournaments.  

“We’re growing our local market while working to put Richmond on the map as a hockey hub,” Winfree says.

Warming Up 

The Washington Capitals have also played an active role in building the momentum around youth hockey in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. To reach families in local communities, the NHL team has partnered with more than a dozen rinks, including Powhatan Ice Den and Richmond Ice Zone in Chesterfield. 

Both boys and girls can sign up for its Future Caps Learn to Play program, where all hockey gear is provided. The one-hour Saturday class runs for eight weeks. Gaby Corcoran, skating and program director at Richmond Ice Zone, says about 25% of the program’s participants are female.  

Another initiative of the Washington Capitals, All Caps All Her, specifically works to recruit female athletes to ice hockey. “Between the ages of 4 and 9, girls are trying soccer, dance, basketball and taekwondo, and we want to add hockey to that list,” says Jessie Thompson, director of youth hockey development for the Washington Capitals and a University of Richmond graduate. “Young girls get so much out of the sport. They’re making friends and becoming leaders on the ice.” 

Since All Caps All Her was founded in 2021, the program has engaged over 5,000 women and girls, 3,300 of which were first timers to hockey. Many of those athletes have gone on to enroll in hockey leagues at their local rinks, helping to grow female enrollment in the region by 17% in just four years, according to Megan Eichenberg, the Caps’ director of corporate communications and publicity. 

Thompson says one of the Caps’ main goals is giving female athletes more opportunities to play on all-girls teams. “There’s tons of research indicating girls end up quitting a sport when they no longer feel physically comfortable or emotionally supported on a coed or boys team,” Thompson says. “We want to set them up for success.” 

In September, the Caps hosted its second annual Girls Try Hockey for Free Day, inviting girls who enjoy ice skating to try the sport at one of 16 rinks in the region, including Richmond Ice Zone. 

Everly Searle, 4, was one of about 20 girls who participated in Chesterfield. Everly’s mother, Laura, says her daughter has been sliding around the ice in Crocs since age 2, but she’d never played hockey before. “She absolutely loved it,” Searle says. “For years, she’s been tagging along to her older brother’s hockey games with the Richmond Generals and has been dying to get to play herself rather than just spectate.” 

Searle knows from her son’s experience that trying ice hockey for the first time can be intimidating, and she appreciates that events like Girls Try Hockey for Free Day make the sport more accessible and create a friendly environment for girls like her daughter. “There’s a barrier to entry for ice hockey,” she says. “If you want to play soccer, you go to Dick’s [Sporting Goods], grab a ball and some shin guards, and show up to a field, but ice hockey is a bit more complicated.” 

Searle and her husband both graduated from Cornell University, one of just 44 colleges in the U.S. with both NCAA Division I women’s and men’s hockey teams. (More than 360 colleges and universities offer Division I men’s and women’s basketball, for comparison.) “Ice hockey was a really big deal [in Ithaca, New York], and my husband grew up playing,” she says.  

When they first moved to Richmond about 13 years ago, they were pleasantly surprised to find a robust adult ice hockey team. Now they welcome the opportunities for both their son and daughter. “We are just so, so excited,” Searle says. “It’s like a hockey renaissance around here.” 

This year, Everly plans to play in a coed league, but she can’t wait until she’s old enough to play for the 8U Little Mischief and wear their purple uniform. Her mother says playing with boys is fine for now, but joining an all-girls team would be ideal.  

Heather Buske wants the same for her daughter, Londyn. “When she plays with other girls, she’s just more confident, and she gets to feel that camaraderie she normally doesn’t get because she’s not in the locker room with the boys,” she says. “There’s just something different when they hit the ice and see other girls. She has hockey best friends.”

Role Models 

The field is expanding on an international level, too. Since the 2023-24 inaugural season, the Professional Women’s Hockey League has drawn more than 1.2 million fans to arenas in the U.S. and Canada, which included nine neutral sites this year, such as Raleigh, North Carolina. Viewers from 106 countries have also watched matches live through local TV networks and on YouTube. 

Sales of PWHL merchandise also doubled in its second season. In August, Mattel debuted its first PWHL Barbie doll, which quickly sold out. The PWHL also released a limited-time set of “Inspirational Icons” digital trading cards, featuring some of the best female hockey players in the world, such as Emily Clark and Savannah Harmon of the Ottawa Charge; Kendall Coyne Schofield of the Minnesota Frost; Hilary Knight of the Boston Fleet; Marie-Philip Poulin of the Montreal Victorie; Abby Roque of the New York Sirens; and Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse of the Toronto Sceptres. 

“It’s so important for young girls to see a positive female role model,” says Jessie Thompson of the Caps. “With Team USA, the women’s national team at the Olympics, and the creation of the PWHL, young girls can turn on their television and watch women playing at the highest level. They now have a pathway and a dream.” 

Londyn Buske and Everly Searle are just a few of those dreamers. Whether collecting trading cards or watching reels of their favorite players on Instagram, they know there’s a place for girls on the ice. “I love that Londyn can now see women playing — she never talked about playing long-term until she saw the PWHL players,” Buske says. “She is proof representation matters.” —Laura Anders Lee

Girls Are Players, Too

• 72,000 females play youth hockey in the U.S. 
• Since 2021, 3,500 girls in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region have tried hockey for the first time. 
• Females account for 18% of all youth hockey players.
• Virginia ranked ninth in the country for largest growth in the number of female hockey players last year.

Glide and Slide 

Regional rinks where you can lace up and hit the ice

FOR LESSONS AND LEAGUES

Powhatan Ice Den 

The newest rink in the region, the Ice Den hosts youth hockey leagues, pickup games and learn-to-skate programs. Open year-round. 1580 Oakbridge Terrace, Powhatan. powhataniceden.com

Richmond Ice Zone  

North Chesterfield County’s Olympic-size rink hosts lessons and club sports and has a full-service cafe. Open year-round. 636 Johnston Willis Drive, North Chesterfield. rvaskating.com

Skate Nation Plus 

Short Pump’s all-in-one destination for ice sports, laser tag, arcade games and more. Open year-round. 350 Pouncey Tract Road, Glen Allen. rvaskating.com

OTHER REGIONAL RINKS

Stony Point Ice Skating Rink 

Skate out the holiday season at Stony Point Fashion Park’s outdoor pop-up rink. Open seasonally from November through January. 9200 Stony Point Parkway, Richmond. shopstonypoint.com

Conex Pop-up Rink 

A new container bar and event space in Carver will feature a pop-up skating rink starting in mid-November. 900 Axtell St. @conex.rva on Instagram —Chase Wilson

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Down Cold

The region’s ice culture is heating up

There’s no doubt Richmond is a city full of sports fans. This year alone, there’s been record-setting fan presence across its minor league baseball and soccer teams, rising attention on the city’s three women’s football teams, a sold-out NASCAR race, six-figure attendance at Dominion Energy RiverRock, major developments on the new CarMax Park, and national championships at the Henrico Sports & Events Center — not to mention a healthy youth sports scene that takes advantage of the region’s many new fields and community centers.  

As the seasons turn and events head indoors, winter sports are warming up. And, with a new ice rink on the way, these sports are ready to go pro. 

In this sports-obsessed city, athletes and business owners in the ice world are betting on an upgraded facility, a pipeline of young talent and possibly some big players to herald a renaissance of ice sports across town. Is Richmond ready to lace up? 

Growing Athletes and Audiences

Richmond’s ice culture is driven by a network of hockey clubs, including the Richmond Generals and Hockey Night in Richmond, and figure skating groups such as the Richmond and Central Virginia figure skating clubs and the Greater Richmond Ice Theatre. Both University of Virginia and University of Richmond have college club teams that train and compete in Richmond, acting as a draw for fans and players interested in watching high-level play. Facilities for players and coaches are dotted across the region, including rinks in Henrico, Chesterfield and Powhatan counties.  

“[We] actually all get along great. I mean, we help everyone,” says Lea Rizer, skating director at SkateNation Plus in Short Pump. “Since we are a smaller community, we have all been around for quite a while. I’ve been working with some of these people for 25 years, so we’re like a little family.” 

A community this size fosters more collaboration than competition, many in the industry note, even if competition is the point. Just as baseball, soccer and other sports have done, raising the profile of a pastime takes time — often generations’ worth. 

To make lifelong players and enthusiasts, skating clubs focus on youth participation, most commonly through learn-to-skate classes. “We start age 4, and we have lessons 12 months a year; we never stop,” Rizer says. “I would say 98% of kids go through the learn-to-skate program and then will go into more serious figure skating or hockey, and from there synchro or theater. Most kids, if they keep with it, they make friends, and a lot of them have been friends since group classes.” 

Rizer adds that, at SkateNation, skating class attendance has been largely reliable over the last two decades, contributing a steady stream of new learners and eventual hockey players and competitors in figure skating, synchronized skating (a team-based skating sport akin to synchronized swimming), theater on ice (a sport blending choreography and narrative storytelling) and more. But in 2020, as with almost every aspect of life, things took a turn. 

“We coined the term ‘the COVID gap,’ where a bunch of kids who were in that pipeline from learn-to-skate to then going into ice skating or hockey was disrupted by the pandemic, so we have this kind of gap in the higher level competitive athletes in the area,” says Raya Willoughby, a skater, private instructor and coach of the Greater Richmond Ice Theatre. Despite the gap, Willoughby says that the retention level for skaters is still high. “We are now getting a bunch of up-and-coming younger players and skaters, which is really great to see.” 

Other factors, such as the upcoming Winter Olympic Games and popular regional professional teams, also drive attention and participation. Figure skating is largely helped by the former; the ecosystem of clubs and skaters in Washington, D.C., feeding to the Olympics boosts Richmond’s position as well. “A few years ago, we had Ilia Malinin, who is now the world champion, compete down here, since he’s from D.C.,” Rizler says. Malinin, a 20-year-old Fairfax County native, is America’s top contender for men’s singles gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics and a prominent figure in the country’s figure skating scene. “There’s a lot of opportunity to grow along with Northern Virginia,” Rizer says.  

The aim is the same in the hockey world, says Ryan Winfree, general manager of the Powhatan Ice Den. “We’re trying to follow a lot of what some of the NHL markets are doing, because their growth is really exceptional, especially from a grassroots standpoint. ... They focus a lot on coaching, a lot on development, a lot on skating. That youth growth is crucial, so even when kids start to kind of drop out in teenage years ... we can keep feeding it to be strong. And that’s kind of our goal.” 

Making Strides 

Facilities play a major role in creating and maintaining that self-propagating market. The area’s private rinks — where the majority of Richmond skates — each only have one sheet, which limits the amount of ice time available in a day. Shuffling between private lessons before school, classes throughout the day and hockey practices at night is a size challenge as much as a scheduling challenge. In addition, few of the rinks have the space that multiple locker rooms, coaches’ boxes, and bleachers require.  Despite the number of rinks in the area and a surge of interest in ice sports, the physical limitations have stalled the growth of rink sports in RVA. 

To solve this problem, some in the business are thinking big: 81,000 square feet, to be exact. Fred Festa, owner of the Powhatan Ice Den, his son-in-law Winfree and their team have broken ground on the Richmond Ice Box, a two-sheet building adjacent to the River City Sportsplex in the Brandermill area that eventually will be the largest facility in the region. 

“We’re really focused on the community aspect of growing [ice sports] locally, but also, we want to put Richmond on the map as a great hosting space, so that’s an opportunity for tourism, too,” Winfree says. “With this rink, we can really do all that.” 

Winfree, who will also lead the Ice Box as its general manager, expects the first phase of the rink to open next summer: the first of two planned sheets of ice, a pro shop and concessions, four locker rooms, and roughly 350 of the expected 700 spectator seats. Winfree hopes to begin the second phase, which will include the second sheet and more locker rooms and seating, once the first rink is operational and bears out with interest. 

“We don’t have a specific timeline on it, but we kind of want to judge the market a little bit,” Winfree says. “But everything will be ready to execute for phase two whenever we can pull the trigger.” 

The intimate size of Richmond’s ice sports community means supply and demand play a role in bringing the Ice Box to fruition. Opening a new ice facility is no small feat in 2025. According to the market research firm IBISWorld, ice rinks have high overhead costs and low profit margins that force a balancing act between drawing an audience and earning a profit.  “It’s really expensive to run, and it’s a tough spot because you don’t want to out-price too many kids, but you also have to earn something,” Winfree says. Although the project is driven by Festa and Winfree’s passion for growth and success, Winfree notes, “It’s a tough industry.” 

The Ice Box is receiving support from one of the region’s fastest-growing industries, though: sports tourism. The Chesterfield County Sports, Visitation and Entertainment division, founded in 2023, provides promotional and logistical help to sports facilities in the county to capitalize on the multibillion-dollar sports tourism industry in the state.  

“I think this is about a home-field advantage,” says J.C. Poma, its executive director. “It’s another way to diversify the economy, both supporting our residents with a new place to play and bringing in tournaments, travel teams and things like that.” 

Just as the Henrico Sports & Events Center, which opened in 2023, has landed major sporting events and multiday tournaments, Poma, Winfree and others expect the new rink to attract players and families in hockey and figure skating hubs from the north and south while letting Richmond’s local athletes flourish. “We all are understanding of the desire for more sheet and ice time. ...  When [they] get to that phase two, that’s a big opportunity to partner with the other sheets in town,” Poma says. “There’s plenty of potential on the horizon.” 

Crossing Over 

That potential is something many of the tentpole clubs of Richmond’s skating scene want to capitalize on. In the hockey world, a new rink means more youth and adult clubs can find ice time at a facility built with hockey players in mind, one that has sizable locker rooms and grandstands for bigger audiences. Winfree hopes to revive the Richmond Generals’ junior teams, which folded in 2023, increasing opportunities for high-level play for the next generation of hockey talent. John Chukayne, head coach of the University of Richmond club team, sees the benefits not only for his players, but for current and future hockey fans in Richmond. 

“Exposure is everything; getting interested in hockey can happen if we have more opportunities, and this helps,” Chukayne says. “Getting more college teams down would draw attention like never before.” 

Membership in the U.S. Figure Skating association and its learn-to-skate programs have trended up nationwide for a decade, reaching nearly 250,000 members by 2024. Local figure skaters see that interest in the sport and its subgenres, including ice dance, synchronized skating and theater on ice, as an opportunity to grow.  

Since 2005, the Richmond Figure Skating Club has hosted Falling Leaves, a regional competition sponsored by U.S. Figure Skating, in late September. Held at SkateNation since its inception, the tournament recently brought more than 260 adult and youth skaters from Maryland, D.C., Virginia and North Carolina to Richmond for its 20th anniversary, vying for trophies and warming up for larger competitions later in the season. 

Looking ahead to next year, Rizer sees some potential in the new, large-scale facility, while noting that no plans are in the works so far. “Falling Leaves is pretty much at capacity with the one rink at SkateNation,” she says. “I think we could definitely grow this. ... You need two to three pieces of ice to have a really big competition. We’re all going to have to figure it out.” 

Future dreams for the Ice Box don’t stop there. Winfree and Festa, a former owner of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits minor league hockey team in South Carolina, see the second phase’s added space as a potential selling point in bringing a minor league hockey team to Richmond. “That’s always been the goal, you know. A lot of people want it,” Winfree says. “We need an arena. We are ready to sit down at the table to bring a team here, if we can.”  

Festa’s hopes date back to the Navy Hill project; he had suggested bringing a minor league team to the now-failed arena project. With the Ice Box able to serve as the team’s practice facility, a game-ready stadium is the final component to securing Richmond’s first minor league team in nearly a decade since the Richmond RiverDogs left town in 2006. At this moment, Winfree sees Henrico’s GreenCity project, currently stalled, as the next best bet for a new venue.  

The city’s passionate fanbase means a new team could be a cornerstone to raising the profile of all ice sports, Winfree notes. “I really think that some kind of professional team, that’s really one of the biggest things that grows the interest in [these] sports,” he says.  

For now, the ice sports community glides toward the horizon, following the moves and changes as they come, aiming for gold. “I do feel like ice sports are growing as a whole, which is really exciting,” Willoughby says. “And I hope that expands nationally as well, to get Richmond’s name out there at the national level.” —Kevin Johnson

Stage-Worthy Skating 

Among the popular disciplines of figure skating — freestyle, pairs, ice dance and others with Olympic recognition — theater on ice is the newcomer. But after gaining local and nationwide interest in the last few years, it’s ready for the main stage.  

“It’s a really fun blend of the technical side of skating, where you have the beautiful skating skills and cool tricks, ... [and] the creative aspect, too. There’s a lot of acting and theatricality and characters in a big story,” says Raya Willoughby, coach of the Greater Richmond Ice Theatre. 

Theater on ice bears some resemblance to the performances of popular touring acts like Disney on Ice, but adds a competitive edge. The sport is a team competition that builds a short and long program by combining defined moves from figure skating with costumes, music and narrative storytelling fitting a theme set by the U.S. Figure Skating Association for the year. 

“The whole premise of theater on ice is working together as a team to tell a story, to convey the creation of your own little universe,” Willoughby says. A four-time national champion figure skater for Malaysia, Willoughby first fell in love with ice theater while attending Penn State. After moving to the Richmond region in 2018, she connected with local outlets for the sport and joined the Virginia Ice Box Ensemble as a coach. 

The Virginia Ice Box Ensemble was one of two regional organizations that have trained for and competed in theater on ice events for more than a decade. In August 2024, VIBE and the James River Ice Theatre merged into one group: the Greater Richmond Ice Theatre, capitalizing on a growing interest in the sport among Richmond skaters. 

“The merge that we had last year pulled together the [theater on ice] community in the Richmond area,” Willoughby says. “Instead of being one rink against the other, we became one big team. ... Nationally and locally, there has been a huge boom in involvement.” 

This June, in its first year of combined existence, GRIT competed in the U.S. Figure Skating’s national competition for theater on ice, where both teams in the club set new high scores. The 2025-2026 season began in October and includes club performances and regional competitions in the spring and summer.