The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Ohio Hockey Project explores expansion
30,000-square-foot facility proposed
The city of Avon could be the home of a new state-of-the-art hockey training facility and a hub for developing Cleveland’s hockey market.
In a presentation April 19 to Avon City Council, Russ Sinkewich, founder of the Ohio Hockey Project, proposed a 30,000-square-foot facility that could be a game changer for the west side of Cleveland.
The organization is eyeing property next to Mercy Health Stadium at 2009 Baseball Boulevard, the home of the Lake Erie Crushers, which would bring a world class facility and tax benefits for Avon.
The facility also could serve as a home for Avon High School sports with additional skating programs.
Sinkewich, who played collegiately at Bowling Green State University and professionally for seven years, including two seasons with the Cleveland Monsters before establishing the Ohio Hockey Project in 2011, said he aims to help grow the sport locally and provide top class skills
development training from high performance coaches.
“Ultimately, the goal is to help each and every athlete maximize their potential on, and off, the ice, and not just with one of our programs, but really their career through the sport and ultimately as they transition the life skills out of the sport into real life,” Sinkewich said.
Currently, the program operates one-week summer training camps in Cleveland, Strongsville, North Olmsted and Brooklyn.
It has trained 20,000 youth players, Sinkewich said.
A Westlake native, Sinkewich said the Ohio Hockey Project ideally is eyeing a six- to eightmonth construction schedule with a potential opening date of June 2022.
If approved, the project would become one of largest facilities in the country and the most western in the Northeast Ohio region, he said.
The facility, according to current plans, would house a three-quarters sized ice rink enabling long-term sustainability, Sinkewich said.
The Ohio Hockey Project does not host teams or tournaments and purely is a third-party skills development organization, he said.
Upgrading to a fullsized rink would add an additional $5,000 to $10,000 in monthly operating costs, Sinkewich said.
Council and Mayor Bryan Jensen expressed enthusiasm for the project and supported exploring the potential of upgrading it to a full sized rink.
Councilman Bob Butkowski said he believed Avon would have no trouble making a full-sized rink sustainable with local teams always looking for ice time and the ability to host games, would increase its attractiveness and draw in more people as a regional hub.
Jensen agreed, adding that while he does not want the Ohio Hockey Project to go away from its organizational model, the people of Avon would support having a home ice rink for their children to play on.