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Rink Spotlight: The Rink on the Beach

June 16, 2026 | By SoFlo Hockey

Last week we spotlighted the Baptist Health IcePlex — the gleaming new practice home of the back-to-back Cup champs. This week, we’re going to where that story actually started.

Before the IcePlex, before the IceDen, before the rats hit the ice at Miami Arena, the expansion-era Florida Panthers ran their very first practices at an unassuming rink just off Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. Three decades, two names, and one major reinvention later, that building is still making hockey players — including, full disclosure, a few of us here at SoFlo Hockey, who grew up on this ice.

Here’s what to know about The Rink on the Beach.

The Basics

  • Where: 4601 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach, FL 33064
  • Phone: (954) 943-1437
  • Web: rinkonthebeach.com
  • Size: 40,000 sq ft, two sheets (185′ x 80′ main rink + 84.5′ x 50′ studio rink)
  • Formerly known as: Gold Coast Ice Arena, then Glacier Ice & Snow Arena

1. The Panthers Practiced Here First

The rink proudly bills itself as the historical first training facility of the Florida Panthers — and it’s true. When the NHL landed in South Florida in 1993, the brand-new Panthers needed somewhere to skate, and this building (then Gold Coast Ice Arena) was it. Vanbiesbrouck, Mellanby, and the rest of those scrappy expansion teams sharpened up here before the franchise eventually moved its practices west to Coral Springs.

So if you’ve ever wondered where South Florida’s NHL story began on a day-to-day, working level — it’s this sheet of ice, two miles from the ocean.

2. From Gold Coast to Glacier to The Rink on the Beach

The building has lived several lives. After its Gold Coast era, it spent years as Glacier Ice & Snow Arena — a name plenty of longtime local players still use out of habit. New ownership took over and rebranded it as The Rink on the Beach, refreshing the facility and the main sheet along the way.

The result is a rink that keeps its old-school neighborhood character while shedding the rough edges. Regulars describe it with affection: it’s not flashy, but it’s cold in there, the ice is good, and everybody knows everybody.

3. The Setup

Two sheets under one roof:

  • Main rink: 185′ x 80′ — a touch under NHL regulation, which honestly makes for a faster, more chaotic beer-league game. Arena seating for about 200.
  • Studio rink: 84.5′ x 50′ — perfect for lessons, clinics, small-area skills work, and littles taking their first strides.

Off the ice you’ll find a pro shop, snack bar, arcade, and a climate-controlled lobby that fits 300. The rink says it sees more than 300,000 visits a year, which tracks — there’s almost always something happening on one of the two sheets.

4. What’s On the Ice

  • Adult hockey leagues across skill levels
  • Youth hockey — home of the Fury
  • Adult Learn-to-Play hockey lessons for first-timers
  • Learn to Skate — a nationally recognized USFSA children’s program
  • Figure skating lessons and freestyle ice
  • Florida Panthers Learn to Play — the team’s free-equipment program for kids 5–9 runs sessions here
  • Public skating daily

And in true South Florida fashion, the rink has its seasonal regulars: every winter a crew of Canadian snowbirds takes up residency on the ice until spring sends them back north.

5. Drop-In & Stick Time

Stick & puck and drop-in sessions run throughout the week, but times shift with the season and league schedules. Check the current calendar at rinkonthebeach.com or on the MemberMe+ app (search “The Rink on the Beach”) before you load the car.

6. Who Plays Here

This is the neighborhood rink of northeast Broward and south Palm Beach County. Five minutes from Boca, twenty from Fort Lauderdale, and pulling players from both directions. Beer leaguers, youth travel teams, figure skaters, snowbirds, and families who wandered in off Federal Highway looking for somewhere cold.

If the IcePlex is the “downtown destination” rink, The Rink on the Beach is the opposite and proud of it: a true local barn where the staff knows your name and your usual locker room.

7. The Bottom Line

If you live in Pompano, Deerfield, Lighthouse Point, or Boca, this is your home ice — convenient, affordable, and steeped in more South Florida hockey history than the building lets on. And if you’re a Panthers fan making the pilgrimage to watch practice at the IcePlex, consider a detour up Federal Highway to see where it all started.

Some rinks are destinations. This one’s a hometown.

Got a rink we should spotlight next? Drop us a note on the contact page.