{"id":114397,"date":"2026-02-15T04:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T04:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/114397\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T04:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T04:24:07","slug":"ice-sports-carve-out-a-place-in-central-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/114397\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice sports carve out a place in central Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple ice sport events in the Hershey highlight the region’s frozen sports scene.<\/p>\n

HERSHEY, Pa. \u2014 Snowcapped mountains and frozen lakes are typically the first thing people think about when talking about winter sports. But the ridges and valleys of central Pa. are quickly carving a name for themselves in the ice.<\/p>\n

With the Winter Olympics well underway, ice sports are in the spotlight on the global stage, but central Pa. has its own winter sports scene that continues to grow and bring new people to the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur market is a little bit of a hotbed when it comes to things like figure skating and ice hockey,” says Greg Cook, the executive director of Hershey-Harrisburg Sports and Events Authority. “And not surprised that there are 7 rinks available all within about a 10- or 15-minute drive of Hershey Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Hershey Bears<\/a> lead the way when it comes to central Pa.’s ice sports scene, hockey is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the region’s history with ice sports.<\/p>\n

“It’s a well-known hockey market, but also the Hershey Figure Skating Club goes way back and we also have the Central Pennsylvania Figure Skating Club,” explained Cooks.<\/p>\n

The region’s relationship with figure skating goes back over 80 years to when the Ice Capades were started at the Hersheypark Arena in 1940, leaving a lasting legacy of figure skating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a host of different ice sport events going on this weekend at rinks such as the GIANT Center and Hersheypark Stadium, Central Pa. has embraced winter sports with open arms. Events like the Annual Reflections Synchro Invitational<\/a> highlight sports like synchronized skating, shedding light on ice sports that cannot be found at the Winter Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Highlighting ice sports does more than just showcase the regions\u2019 ability to skate, it brings in people from across the country giving them a chance to experience all central Pa. has to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll probably have about 1400 skaters total and 124 teams coming from as far as Los Angeles \u2014 Florida so they’re coming from the East Coast and Midwest. We\u2019re very excited\u201d says Becky Hilgers, the president of the Central PA Figure Skating Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this weekend\u2019s events expected to bring in over $4 million in revenue, central Pa. continues to not only showcase the exciting action and what the region has to offer on and off the ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple ice sport events in the Hershey highlight the region’s frozen sports scene. HERSHEY, Pa. \u2014 Snowcapped mountains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-114397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}