Colorado student hockey players advocate for Castle Rock ice rink to support growth, accessibility
A growing sport in a Colorado community is now looking for somewhere closer to home for practice.
In 2024 , high school girl's hockey became a prep sport in Colorado, but it is not yet CHSAA sanctioned. As both girl's and boy's teams in Douglas County push for more opportunities, they are advocating for a new ice rink to be built in Douglas County.
Castle View Sabercat girl's varsity hockey players are the first girls team to become high school state champions in Colorado since becoming a prep sport.
"It's the second year of girl's high school hockey in Colorado, and our team won the state championship last year, but nobody knew about it, and no one really knows that girl's high school hockey is a thing, so it'd be kind of nice to get some more recognition if we got another rink more closer to our communities," said Rylie Young, a Legend High School senior and Sabercat girl's varsity hockey player.
The Sabercat girl's team is made up of players from more than 10 Douglas County schools. The boys team is made up of those from Castle View, Douglas County and Rock Canyon high schools.
But, even as the sport grows, there is a shortage of its most important resource -- ice.
"There just simply is not enough ice availability for each public school, let's say, to have their own team," said Michael Dubus, head varsity ice hockey coach at Castle View High School and director of Sabercat Hockey.
The closest rinks for these Douglas County players are in Littleton or Highlands Ranch, up to a 40-minute drive for some.
"It's a lot of gas money, and this is one of the closer rinks to my house too," Young said.
They share the ice with teams from around the metro area, meaning practices fall early in the morning, late at night or even during the school day.
"Ice time is pretty hard to find around here, and so especially for us, we have to get classes off of school to come here, and that's harder for especially our underclassmen, and some of them can't even come to all of our practices, which is tough," Young said.
"Practices that either start at six in the morning during the week, during the school day or later than nine at night," Dubus said. "Then getting home around closer to 11, 11:30, midnight, when they need to be up, obviously very early the next day and perform well academically. So I do think that the ice constraints put a limit on the success that some of these student-athletes can have."
Now, Douglas County players and coaches are hoping to gain support, find a partner, and start fundraising to build a rink in the Castle Rock area.
"I think a rink in Castle Rock would be perfect. Castle Rock's kind of a center of like, a bunch of people are there," said Dane Zitzlsperger, Rock Canyon senior and varsity Sabercats hockey player. "My team from Castle View combines two schools that are in Castle Rock, Castle View and Douglas County, and those two schools combine into my team, and Rock Canyon also feeds into that team. But with most of the kids being from those two schools, it's kind of weird that there's not a rink in Castle Rock. They have to drive, usually 30 to 40 minutes to practice every day. I think if a rink would be in Castle Rock, I know my brothers would probably maybe try hockey more. I mean, I think convenience for families is huge."
Dubus says they've met with town officials, and another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. Currently, Castle Rock says there are no plans to partner on a rink.
But these hockey lovers won't stop pushing to remove barriers, so more Douglas County players can hit the ice.
"Any increase in the amount of ice in this state would obviously open doors for people to experience our amazing sport," Dubus said. "There's so much good that has come from hockey in my life. I've played hockey since I was just a little kid. It's gotten me to where I am today as a coach, and I feel like I've just learned a lot of things in my life through the game of hockey. And at this point, right now, in Colorado, we have the interest and the demand from families and little kids to continue year to make that happen for them, but we don't have the ice for it, and I really just feel like it's something that it's a solution that I want to be a part of. And so I'm excited for what's to come."
