LA Kings Ice Reseda is finally here, and the project has been a long road from idea to ribbon cutting.
Kings president Luc Robitaille said the organization first started pushing the project back when Los Angeles hosted the All-Star Game in 2017. He pointed to Councilman Broomfield as a key part of keeping it moving over the years.
“We started working on this the last time we had the All-Star Game in 2017,” Robitaille said. “We talked about it with Councilman Broomfield back then, so we've been working with him a long time.
Sometimes, it takes time to get things going but it's good for us that he was able to keep his people stuck to it. Now, it’s finally coming to fruition.”
The Kings officially opened the new rink in Southern California with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking a major addition for hockey in the Valley. Ground was broken in 2022, so the building itself took four years from shovels in the ground to completion. From the first conversations to opening day, the whole thing stretched across 10 years.
According to the team’s press release, LA Kings Ice Reseda is the seventh permanent public ice facility run through the Kings’ partnership with American Sports Entertainment Company. That group also includes the team’s main practice facility in El Segundo, which has three ice sheets.
The Reseda site covers 26,800 square feet and includes an NHL-sized ice surface, office space, public seating, skate rental, a pro shop and concessions. It also has an outdoor roller area that measures about 60 feet by 120 feet, along with a 1,200-square-foot support building.
The timing matters, too. Last summer, Panorama City’s Valley Ice Center closed, and Robitaille said the Kings organization learned about it “the night before.” Even though the rink carried Kings branding, the team was not involved in its ownership or operation and was caught off guard when it shut down.
That closure left the California Heat youth program looking for a new home. With today’s announcement, the Heat will move into the Reseda facility, keeping a program that has long been tied to California youth hockey in place.
“That program has been a really good program for many, many years, so it was important to keep it afloat,” Robitaille added. “We’ve got to open more rinks. I mean we're always looking into it, or we're trying to keep the [ones that are running now] open before they close.”
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