Want to learn, play street hockey? The Hurricanes are making it possible in Apex.
If you’re looking for a new way to get active — or a place to take your active kids — come to Apex this spring.
Two street hockey rinks will open in April at Apex Community Park on Laura Duncan Road. People of all ages and skill levels are welcome to come learn and play the sport.
The street hockey project is a partnership among Apex, the Carolina Hurricanes and the National Hockey League’s Industry Growth Fund. The Hurricanes and NHL provided $550,000 for it.
Both rinks will be designed for street hockey, which can be played on roller blades, and ball hockey, played in sneakers.
The 160-by-75-foot rinks will also feature player benches, penalty boxes, scorekeeper boxes, fencing, scoreboards, and special athletic flooring that resembles real ice.
The town will offer equipment for people who might otherwise never learn to play, said Angela Reincke, the town’s parks planning manager.
“The really neat thing about this facility is ice time, and playing hockey on an ice rink is really expensive in the Triangle area,” Reincke said. “Kids can learn the game and play just using a stick and ball and feet and not have to have all of the equipment. It’s to broaden the exposure.”
Apex Community Park has three pickleball courts, two basketball courts, playgrounds fitness trails, ball fields and batting cages, a fishing dock and a launch for canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, sailboards, john boats and rowing skulls.
The rinks are going where the park’s grass, multi-purpose field was.
‘More rinks, the better’
The Apex rinks will have an open-play option and also give space to groups like the Triangle Special Hockey Association which teaches people with special needs to play. It has over 60 participants 6 to 40 years old, said director Barb Baranski.
“The more rinks, the better, and the more we can offer,” Baranski said. Currently, participants only have 90 minutes every other week to play ball hockey at one of the few rinks in the area, XL Sports World Apex recreation center.
One of the rinks can be used as a multipurpose field for hockey, basketball and futsal, a soccer-based sport played between two teams of five players.
And soon the rinks will get a lighted roof to accommodate players from dusk until the 10 p.m. closing time, Reincke said.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert thanked the Hurricanes in a video on his Facebook page showing the construction.
“Always remember there is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together,” he said. “This is Apex.”
Apex is home to 12 parks. The newest, Pleasant Park at 3400 Pleasant Plains Road, opened in November. The $37 million, 92-acre park has playgrounds, six multi-purpose fields, and tennis, pickleball and basketball courts.