Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

An ice rink for Pasco?

A proposed Land O'Lakes facility could draw skaters from three counties.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published April 11, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - First, it was a tennis stadium that got Pasco's official and financial blessing. Now, it may be hockey's turn.

Dave Beaudin, a 42-year-old Oldsmar businessman, is bringing a pitch for a "Pasco Ice Pavilion" in northern Land O'Lakes to the county's tourism officials.

He's hoping to get county officials to help with an estimated $10-million price tag to build the rink.

His selling point is a facility that could draw hockey players and figure skaters, young and old, from Pasco, Hernando and northern Hillsborough counties.

The only public rinks in the Tampa Bay area currently are in Brandon and Oldsmar, he said. Each is roughly 25 miles from central Pasco.

"Kids from Hernando high schools have to go through Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas just to get to Oldsmar to play," he said. "This is a way to keep kids in Pasco and that's our vision."

Pasco officials are listening.

Beaudin is scheduled to make a formal pitch April 18 to the Tourism Development Council.

Eric Keaton, who coordinates tourism council affairs, said he met Beaudin in February to discuss his pitch.

Beaudin has eight acres under contract at Tower Road and U.S. 41, according to county records. That's where he plans to put the rink, he said.

"We expect it would generate 40 to 55 jobs in the area," he said. These jobs would mainly focus on administration and support staff to run the facility.

For months, rumor had it the Tampa Bay Lightning was exploring building a rink in Pasco. Former team captain Dave Andreychuk, who was said to be involved, did not reply to repeated calls for comment.

Beaudin said Tuesday he is in talks with the Lightning "for their support," but was uncertain if these discussions would bear fruit. He said he also is raising funds from private sources for the proposed rink.

Beaudin runs the Beaudin Hockey Zone Skate Shop at Oldsmar's Tampa Bay Skating Academy with his father, Norm Beaudin, an 18-year veteran of pro hockey who skated for the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the old Minnesota North Stars.

In late March, after a five-year debate, Pasco's county commission approved $7.9-million to build a tennis stadium in central Pasco, with the backing of the tourism development council.

"We'd be ready to stick a shovel in the ground and get it going faster than the tennis center," he said. "We have baseball, football and tennis, but no hockey. We think this is going to be a niche."

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 07:10:34]