The Iceman’s Comeback : Recreation: Once on the brink of closing its doors, the county’s only ice-skating rink now serves a wide community of enthusiasts.

Three years ago, the Conejo Valley Ice Skating Center seemed doomed.

Threatened with eviction, rink operator Sean McGillivray rallied a group of parents and skaters to demonstrate in front of the then-landlord’s offices in Thousand Oaks so that he could keep the doors of the county’s only ice-skating facility open.

Today, the skating rink at 510 N. Ventu Park Road is on better footing with its new landlord, the Home Depot company, McGillivray said. The two businesses are in the midst of negotiating a new five-year lease.

“We want to keep it open,” said McGillivray, owner of Icetime Unlimited, which leases the rink. “I play hockey myself, and it’s a big part of my life.”

McGillivray said his operation is breaking even, although he refused to divulge his rent for fear of jeopardizing lease negotiations.

The 15,300-square-foot rink is one of a dozen in Southern California. It opened 15 years ago at the same location in a building that had been a grocery store and remains the only practice facility for 47 adult and youth hockey teams and about 250 students of a skating school.

Cal Lutheran and Pepperdine university hockey teams also use the rink for practices, said McGillivray, who coaches the Pepperdine team.

The closest rinks to the Conejo Valley center are Iceland Van Nuys and Pickwick Ice Arena in Burbank, said Gail Bondio, president of the Conejo Valley Figure Skating Club, which boasts 110 members.

“There’s no ice rink (to the north) until you hit San Jose. There used to be one in Santa Barbara, but it closed down,” she said. “We have quite a few people who come in from Los Angeles. People also come from El Segundo and Palos Verdes on a daily basis.”

But the rink is old, and much of its equipment, including the bleachers, is nearly worn out. There are large gaps above the rink where deteriorating ceiling tiles have fallen.

Last year, McGillivray had the wooden frame of the glass-plated barrier that divides the ice from the bleachers repainted blue after skaters carved their names and initials in it.

McGillivray said he will eventually find another building for his rink so that it can expand to a regulation 17,000 square feet.

The rink is reserved beginning at 6 a.m. for the figure-skating school. In the afternoons, it is open to the public. Hockey teams have it in the evenings. The last team leaves at 1 a.m.

Operating costs are enormous, McGillivray said. For example, it costs $100,000 a year for electricity to keep the rink frozen.

Students at the skating school, which McGillivray also owns, range from 5 to 37 years old, said Director Terry Tonius.

Pointing to Elizabeth O’Donnell, who aspires to the Olympics, Tonius said, “The fact that the rink is still here has given her a tremendous opportunity.”

Another skater, Andrew Smith, 9, of Thousand Oaks said he initially came to the rink less than three years ago, after watching Brian Boitano win the gold medal in the 1988 winter games.

Since then, the freckle-faced fourth-grader works on his routines six days a week for nearly two hours a day, while his friends are at the beach or playing in the sun.

“I never really liked skateboarding,” Andrew said during a break. “But I really like ice-skating. I think I’m pretty good.”

Other skaters have no Olympic dreams but count on the rink for recreation.

Aerobics instructor Paula Smart, 37, said she discovered her passion for ice-skating about a year ago while on her way to the Home Depot store. She spotted the rink and decided to step inside.

“Last summer, it was so hot. I just wanted to get out of the heat,” Smart said. Soon she was taking classes with Tonius.

“This is a wonderful place to get exercise,” Smart said. “I don’t know what we’d do if this wasn’t around.”