The Olympic Center
2634 Main StreetThis is going to be a long one…and another one that’s pretty light on food.
As we have traveled around the Midwest and to other parts of the country over the last several years, I have been including the ice rinks we go to as part of this blog. It’s also not unusual for me to write posts about the stadiums we visit although those usually include information on concessions and what we eat.
We did eat at this arena but I’m going glance over it here and make it a separate blog posts a few posts down the line which I will then link back here when it’s done.
All of that lead up to tell you I’ve been able to cross one of my bucket list arenas off the list. It’s not biggest or fanciest but it does have a huge place in sports history and I’m so excited my kids got to skate there.
The Olympic Center in Lake Placid, NY is the centerpiece to both the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games that were held in the small upstate new village. The massive three rink ice complex was built in two stages. The original building was built for the 1932 games. The newer part of the arena was built for the 1980 games. The complex sits on the corner of Main Street and Cummings Road across from Lake Placid High School and the speed skating oval which is part of the complex (we’ll get to that). The main entrance to the building is through “Miracle Plaza” which is accessible off Main Street through a circle drive. It’s the first of many times you’ll see the word “Miracle” throughout the complex.
The original box office is tucked in to the corner behind the display of an old zamboni that was used on the speed skating oval. It wasn’t used this week because tickets were sold right at the door to the arena. Not sure if this is still in use when they have big events here like they did last fall when Skate America was hosted in the arena.
When you enter the building, you’re at ice level but you’re not really anywhere near the ice. There is a large lobby area that has an information desk and the entrance to the Winter Olympics Museum and a gift shop.
Along the opposite wall is a panel from the 1980 scoreboard and the final score the semi-final game where the underdog US beat a pretty much professional Soviet team…you all know that though…it’s the Miracle on Ice Game. The 4-3 score is frozen in time with a couple of the original seats from the stadium.
The wall straight across from the door has a statue of Herb Brooks, the man who coached that 1980 team to victory as well as the famous countdown and quote from ABC commentator Al Michaels. “Do you believe in miracles?”
There’s access to the locker room hallway off to the left of the statue and to the right, the stairs that lead up to the spectator section of the 1980 rink and to the the rink level of the 1932 rink.
The top of the stairs brings you out in to Roamer’s Cafe. It’s a large open area with a concession stand like setup on end, a bar in the middle, and a coffee shop along the other end. I could go in to details here but it gets it’s own blog post. You can read about my experience there.
There’s a really great balcony that is accessible from this area. We used this area all week to take pictures after the kids’ skates and after medal ceremonies because there is a great visual of the Olympic rings in the background.
I actually sat out in this area a few times just to get outside and get some fresh air. There are some Adirondack chairs to sit in if you want to sit back and relax. I always have a hard time getting out of these though so I just kind of sat on the edges of them the few times I went outside to take a phone call or write an email.
If you walk down to the end of the balcony, you can get a good look at downtown Lake Placid. It just blows my mind how two Olympic games were held here. The town is so small. Between this competition and a large lacrosse competition, the town was bursting at the seems. It’s nuts to think this town was the epicenter of the sporting world for a few weeks in February of 1980.
If you look straight out from the balcony in the other direction, you can a good chunk of the venues used for the games. Right across the street is the James B. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink. This facility was used for speed skating in both 1932 and 1980. It also hosted half of the hockey tournament in 1932 and was used for opening and closing ceremonies in ’32.
The entrance to the venue is on Main Street right across from the main arena. It’s named for James B. Sheffield who was a former speed skater.
The 400m oval was used for speed skating at both Olympic games. It held it’s last international competition in 1989 when it held the Women’s Allround World Championships. Between the Olympic games, it was also the home football field for Lake Placid High School. They still freeze it in the winter for training but during the warm months, they have inline rollerblade days where you can rent skates for an open skate. They also used the track for a farmer’s market one day but it was raining so I never walked over there.
Back in the arena, if you take a right when you come up the stairs, you’ll be face-to-face with one of the most iconic Olympic venues. The official name is the Herb Brooks Arena but most of the time it’s still called the 1980 rink.
It was super cool walking in to this place for the first time. J and L had already experienced it and B does not care about hockey at all. It was just another rink to him. But this is a place that it is on any sports fan’s bucket list. The 7700 seat arena is really just another hockey arena. It hosts figure skating competitions like this. The ECAC championships are played there. But it’s not just any other arena. It’s the Miracle on Ice arena.
The arena has changed over the years. A $100 million renovation was completed in 2023 that upgraded the seating to more modern, somewhat comfortable plastic stadium seating.
There are banners that hang around the upper area of the arena with the names and numbers from every player on that 1980 Men’s US Hockey Team that won the gold medal.
There is a banner at center ice pointing out that the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games took place on this site although this part of the building wasn’t around in 1932. I’ll get to that rink shortly.
There is very little in wayfinding once you get in the arena. The sections are marked with numbers that hang from the overhang near each section.
There is a smaller upper deck that is accessible from narrow metal and wood staircases at the back of the concourse but all of those sections were closed off. There was no need for people to go up there so they roped off the stairs.
There is a concourse that runs all the way around the arena. For the most part, it’s under the upper deck but on the east side of the building, there is more space outside of the upper deck. This is because there are three large enclosed staircases that come in from the outside. Not sure if they use these on event nights or not. There are some concessions stands in this area but they weren’t open as this was a smaller event with crowds consisting mostly of parents and other competitors.
The concourse around the rest of the seating bowl is kind of cramped and underneath the upper deck. It’s definitely an arena built over 40 years ago.
B didn’t really get the significance of skating on this ice but L absolutely did. She’s watched the movie Miracle more than once and knows most of the Herb Brooks speech. She’s way more into history than hockey but she still loves coming to this place and appreciates what it is. Both kids grabbed some hardware this weekend but scores were not great. One of our coaches always says the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships is more of a cool thing to do than a productive competition for our skaters….last year that wasn’t the case but this year, it definitely was. It was just cool to see them out on this rink and it’s an experience both will carry with them for years to come.
But wait! There’s more.
The original rink in this complex was built for the 1932 Olympics. It’s a gorgeous brick building that towers over Main Street in downtown Lake Placid.
You can get to this rink from other building via a walkway that goes past the cafe.
It also has it’s own entrance built in to the conference center next door. The original doors to the building are no longer used to gain access as they aren’t ADA accessible and they’re from a much different time.
Coming from the 1980 rink, there’s a hallway that runs along the street with the rink on the other side of the wall. You can see the seating built into the structure above you as you’re walking to the spectator entrance.
There are posters on the wall with the history of the 1932 games. This was the first games to hold figure skating inside on artificial ice. All of the figure skating was in this arena and 6 of the 12 hockey games, including the gold medal game, where played in this arena. The other six were played outdoors across the street at the speedskating oval.
The pictures show what this almost 100 year old arena looked like when it was built for the 3rd Olympic games.
The spectator entrance is on the north side of the building near the conference center entrance. The arena is now named after Jack Shea who was a speed skater who won two speed skating golds in 1932.
This arena came pretty close to being torn down before some money was put in to it to be renovated. The newly renovated arena opened in 2021 with new seating, a new refrigeration system, and an expandable rink that can be configured for either NHL or Olympic size. While this arena doesn’t hold the historical significance that the 1980 rink does, it does have the significance of being the first indoor skating venue in Olympic history so saving it was probably the right call.
The seating area is much smaller in this arena holding about 4000 people. The seats are the same as the ones in the 1980 arena but these are blue.
There is seating on three sides. The east end and south side seating is much smaller than the main seating area on the north side of the building.
Two of B’s skates were on this rink. L didn’t have any over here and she was kind of bummed. She’s said since last year she likes the 1932 arena better than the 1980. She did do a practice on this ice just so she could skate on it.
That’s the two main rinks at The Olympic Center but there’s still so much more to talk about.
I just mentioned the Convention Center which is attached to the 1932 Rink. The 90,000 square foot multi use facility opened in 2011. The entrance is separate from the rinks on the corner of Main Street and Olympic Drive. I never really went in this building so there’s not much I can add.
There is a 3rd rink in the building that was built for the 1980 Olympics as a practice facility. This rink is accessible through the Athlete’s Entrance on Cummings Road south of the public entrance.
If you come in this door and go to the right, it takes you to a long hallway with the locker rooms and access to the ice via team benches when the arena is set up for hockey.
The locker rooms were also redone with the renovation in 2023 so the Miracle on Ice locker room isn’t the same as it was then. There is, however, a plaque outside of locker room five with the Herb Brooks speech.
If you go to the left from the Athlete’s Entrance, you come to a kind of non descript metal door for the USA Rink.
The rink really isn’t anything more than a practice rink. There are curling markers on the ice too so it’s probably used for that but it’s a very basic rink
There is one small section of seating but you have to go up a pretty large metal staircase to get to it. You can’t even see the seating from ground level.
Once up there, there are a few rows of metal bleachers. This rink was only used for practice this week. L had one session on it. She said it was fine but that’s about her only review of it.
OK…getting close to the end here. I just want circle back to the beginning really quick.
I mentioned the Winter Olympic Museum at the beginning of this post. It’s right near the front entrance. On our last day there, I decided to take the kids. L had already been through but B wanted to see it and L wanted to go again. The entrance fee for adults is $15. For kids under 19, it’s $12.
There are a lot of really cool things on display in this museum. There is gear and uniforms from early games.
There’s advertising and posters from all of the winter games.
There are various medals from the different winter games on display in a giant glass case.
The gold medal from the 1980 Lake Placid games was really cool looking.
There’s even a couple of neat interactive exhibits including this screen where you can watch a run down the Mt Verhoeven bobsled track from inside an Olympic bobsled.
And of course, there is all sorts of gear from the 1980 men’s hockey team.
Including a this medal which leaves me with more questions than answers. The Soviets didn’t take silver in those games….they lost to the US in the Semi-Final. Not the gold medal game.
If you made it all the way through….I gotta tell you, I’m a little surprised. This was long.
I have been looking forward to this trip for Lake Placid for over a year now and man, this place was everything I had hoped it would be. It’s a mix of history with some modernization and an amazing venue for my kids to get to compete in. I’m not sure I’ll be going back every year…it took a lot of my PTO for this trip, but I’m glad I got to do it at least once. It was a heckuva week hanging out in this historic building.
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