ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Not Exactly Rinky-Dink

The arrival of the Mighty Ducks hockey team brought a touch of winter excitement to sunny Orange County. Now, a community ice rink being built by the Walt Disney Co. in Anaheim promises to be a very welcome facility indeed.

In fact, there are several ice rinks up and running already in the county. A frequent winter sight on a Saturday afternoon in, say, Costa Mesa, is folks wandering between the seasons as they carry their skates from the warmth of the parking lot into an environment reminiscent of a place like Minneapolis.

The Anaheim facility, being paid for Disney, will house two rinks when completed this fall--an Olympic-size figure skating rink and a hockey rink. The facility’s primary purpose is to be a practice rink for the Mighty Ducks, but there will be a big benefit for the community, too. The rink will be the home of GOALS, a nonprofit Disney program modeled after a highly touted hockey program in Harlem. GOALS will offer organized athletics, education and community service to underprivileged youths.

The rink is also shaping up as a key architectural element in the county’s landscape. It is being designed by the renowned architectural firm Frank O. Gehry & Associates, and project designer Michael Maltzan promises that the use of exposed laminated wood beams, which already are in place, will create something visually warm and exciting, a place that doesn’t “just look like pancakes,” as he put it.

The rink will be a great addition to the county’s infrastructure of sports facilities.