Kansas City Ice Center and Pavilion — Local services in Shawnee

If you're looking for a competitive but friendly adult league to play in where you could learn the game of hockey, look anywhere but here. This might be a great place for kids to learn but the adult leagues are run by team captains who are all trying to relive their glory days or trying to capture the glory days that never were and there isn't an honest soul among them. Many of the more influential captains play in lower level leagues and somehow convince players from C or B leagues to come down to D or Z teams so they get an advantage.

Now I know you're thinking, "Aren't there rules against this kind of thing?" Supposedly there are, but heaven help you if you can find anyone at this building that is actually willing to enforce them. The management is easily sweet talked by the team captains and makes accommodations accordingly whether or not they are fair or ethical. Players that should have been kicked out are still allowed to play, and favoritism is shown to players that schmooze with management. So it's basically the inmates running the asylum.

Refereeing can be a joke too. Many of the ref staff seem like they don't want to be there in the first place half of the time. Especially if its a late game. Is your team down by one in the third period with ten minutes to go and the other team ices it? Well, the ref decided he's not going to call it because he's apparently to tired to skate for too much longer. The referees also have their favorites and they are barely subtle about it. This makes it impossible to feel good about a win, refs make mistakes of course but you don't know if you won honestly and losing just makes you angry, especially if you know without a shadow of doubt the referees had it in for you.

But hey, if you're fine with playing at an ice rink where management might as well not be in the building and where everyone plays the game with fingers crossed behind their backs or are the kind of person that is manipulative enough to kiss up to people that like to be kissed up to or are simply petty enough to captain a team on a low level that can talk players on a higher level to come down and not simply sub but be a key part of your team, then this is the place is for you. Heck, this place is for you if you're a C or B level player that has no dignity and will play on a lower level team so you can score all the goals simply because you weren't that kind of player in high school.

But if you're way past your prime and are simply looking for a fun way to keep yourself from gaining too much weight, learn the game of hockey and feel good about yourself win or lose, there are honestly better places in...

We love KCIC.

We've been coming here first for my kids' hockey lessons and now all their games.

They started with the Learn to Play Hockey program when they were all about 3 maybe 4 yrs old.

Over the almost 9 years of hockey, we have NEVER had a bad coaching experience. The coaches we have had are all patient when they are first learning to skate and there to make sure the kids have fun.

As they get older and go through more programs and teams, it's exciting to see them put everything they've learned together on the ice.

The staff is great and always very helpful. Dean, the GM/hockey director is a phenomenal leader and all around great guy. He loves working with the kids and helping them learn hockey.

There are TONS of programs for all sorts of skaters. Home school time, learn to skate, learn to play hockey, coffee club for adults, open public skate, adult hockey leagues for all levels, etc.....

There is a second outdoor rink that is solid ice in the winter for outdoor (covered) skating too. It gets melted in the spring for kids to do "off ice" stick handling and conditioning on. I've also seen it used for local lacrosse games as well.

The website tries hard to stay up to date with events, but they're open pretty much all day everyday despite what Google says. Sometimes it says it opens at two but we have a game there at 10am so I know they're open. It might just be 'public skate' hours that Google has,...

This facility is one of the worst in the metro for ice hockey events. The main lobby and inside/outside rinks are OK but the rest of the facility is really showing its age and a lack of general maintenance is evident.

Outside, there are chunks of stucco falling or broken off the building, cigarette butts all over the ground (invest in a butt can) and a big dirt patch right by the entrance.

Inside, the locker rooms are have holes in the drywall, missing ceiling tiles, missing light switch plates and a general sign they have been abused and neglected but the problems have not been addressed . One locker room has a bathroom but it has been out of order all season and the door for it is off its hinges and laying against the wall.

The lobby bathroom is terrible but functional. The sink faucets are hard to run on and are horribly rusted, the light switch has the wrong cover, the room is dark and the urinals have so much calcium deposits in them I'm surprised they flush.

The staff has been really nice every time we have been there but this facility really needs some money invested in it to...