A neighborhood ice rink says goodbye after 60 years

This week Seattle says goodbye to an ice skating rink that's been around for generations. Owners of the Highland Ice Arena in Shoreline say it’s a bittersweet end for the family business.

Days before the place closes for good, Highland Ice Arena has the familiar hum of a neighborhood ice rink. Kids run around in their socks; parents follow carrying their coats.

The walls of Highland are covered with photos of skaters, everyone from kids to former pro hockey players and figure skaters.

A large sign above the check-in desk reads, “THANK YOU SKATERS FOR 60 YEARS.”

"We watch these kids grow up. We watch them come back with their own kids, or go on to teach and bring their skaters,” owner Terry Green said. “And they come back and say, 'Hello,' when they bring their group in. And that sense of community is special.”

Green’s parents opened Highland after they first met at an ice rink in Quebec. Her father was stationed there during World War II and her mother was home between tours with the Ice Capades. A large black and white portrait of her mother greets skaters in the lobby. She wears a crown on the ice after a competition.

The family opened Highland shortly after moving to Seattle in 1962.

“The day we opened I was checking tickets at the door and my brother was handing out skates,” Green said. “We literally grew up here.”

After six decades running the ice rink, Green says they are ready to close the business and sell the property on Aurora Avenue North, a plan they announced over a year ago.

A few deciding factors lined up with their 60th anniversary. One is the pandemic. Green says they had to shut down the rink for five months, half that time during their peak winter season.

Another big reason: the $80 million hockey complex that opened right down the road last year in Northgate.

“When the Kraken rink opened, our staff knew that we were trying to sell,” Green said. "So, we lost our top coaches. They took a lot of our hockey groups. You know, it wasn't just expanding, it was taking – and that's hard.”

Despite the Northgate facility’s newer amenities and three sheets of ice, a lot of skaters around Seattle prefer the mom and pop feel of Highland. One lifer who’s been coming year after year is a guy known as "The Goose."

“My real name is Jeff Goosman and they call me 'The Goose,'” Goosman said.

After public skate ended on a recent Wednesday night, Goosman and a group of other hockey players were putting on pads and mismatched sweaters.

“This is a tough day. This is the final Wednesday night skate that has been going on for over 50 years,” Goosman said. “Only two guys have ever run the skate: Skip Shermer and myself. I took over about 25 years ago.”

The players goof around as they warm up, sending pucks flying across the ice and narrowly passing each other at high speed. Goosman is the guy who makes sure everyone shows up Wednesdays for the pickup game.

“A lot of these guys out here all play division one hockey,” he said. “Their careers fizzled out, and now they skate Wednesday nights at Highland. So all roads lead back. But now it's just gonna have to lead to another rink.”

After the final Wednesday night skate, the group went out for pizza and beers across the street. Goosman said they’ve looked around at other rinks like the one in Everett or Lynnwood. He says he'll miss this spot and the owners.

“They deserve to be able to retire, you know, and not have to work seven days a week keeping this place alive," he said. "So I'm happy for them.”

Before Goosman and the others could start their game, it was showtime for everybody’s favorite person at the ice rink: Mr. Freeze, the Zamboni Driver.

Chris Freas (pronounced “freeze”) has driven the Zamboni at Highland for the past five years. Kids press their noses to the windows as they watch him give the ice a perfect polish.

“There's three things that humans love to stare at,” Freas said. “One is a fire, another is a river, and the third is a Zamboni conditioning the ice.”

Freas says after years of doing this, he’s used to getting stares. Sometimes those stares can be a little too intent, usually when skaters want the ice extra soft or extra hard.

“The good thing about driving a Zamboni,” he said, “it's like cutting hair. If you make a bad haircut you'll get a chance to correct it some other time.”

Freas has a few more shifts before Highland Ice Arena closes this weekend.

Owner Terry Green says this is an opportunity to spend more time with her family, all of whom skate regularly.

The pandemic and the opening of the nearby NHL rink aren’t the only reasons she decided to close Highland now. Green’s father passed away last November and her mother died in January.

She says she’ll miss all the skaters and hockey clubs, but running the day-to-day business will be easy to say goodbye to.

“I've got three grandkids, “she said. "I love them dearly, I'm looking forward to spending more time with them. I'm looking forward to doing some traveling.”

The final open skate at Highland Ice Arena is this Saturday. A private reunion will be held later this month for longtime regulars to get one last skate.