LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The art of getting knocked down and getting back up is even harder on solid ice.
Nathan Emens said his children, ages 9 and 11, learned the art without spending a fortune.
“Youth hockey is their life,” Emens said of the kids' passion along the streets of the Central Valley. “(We paid) a lot less than what we've seen elsewhere, probably about a tenth of what we've seen elsewhere.”
They play for the Las Vegas Ice Warriors, an independent youth ice hockey nonprofit program founded in 2017 by Gina Usufzi. She said the idea was sparked in 2012 when her first child started playing on the ice.
“There was a hockey community here, but it was very, you know, very small. You wouldn't have known about it,” he said, sitting at a patio table outside his 8 News Now station. Usufzi said. “I remember talking to a parent one day and they said, 'We can't afford that equipment.' They were paying $600, $700 for new gear for their kids to try hockey. I wasn't going to spend any money on it, and even though the kid didn't want it a week later, I found out I couldn't return it because I was already sweating.''
So she went outside and found the gear. At one point, her accumulated donations filled part of her garage, and she was finally able to secure a cage inside the old Fiesta Ice Arena.
That arena has also been the home of the Ice Warriors since their inception. But Usufzi now has a new landlord, who says her landlord has kicked her out and is helping her move out themselves.
The Vegas Golden Knights (VGK) entered into a partnership with California developer Agora Realty in November 2023 to operate Fiesta Ice Arena. The hotel and casino portion of Fiesta Station was demolished earlier that summer to make way for the $20 million, 100,000 square meter site. His two-ice facility, called Hylo Park, will seat 3,000 spectators. This is part of a major $380 million redevelopment project in the area.
“We're here to help kids keep playing hockey,” former NHL goaltender Darren Elliott said at an October press conference unveiling the plan.
He currently earns a salary from VGK as Vice President of Hockey Programming and Facilities Operations.
He is also the president of NAHA (Nevada Amateur Hockey Association). It is the governing body for amateur hockey in the state.
“They’re like HOAs in hockey,” Usufzi said.
She was previously one of the NAHA voting members under the Fiesta Ice Arena management company, but lost that membership after a change in management. According to NAHA's guidebook, each vote will be provided to “an active amateur ice hockey association in the state of Nevada.”
There are only four ice rinks in the Las Vegas Valley. Most of them are operated by his VGK, including City National Arena in Summerlin, America First Center in Henderson, and now Fiesta Ice Arena in North Las Vegas.
Elliott does not have the right to vote as president. The programs in the links operated by VGK do so.
“They own most of the rinks, most of the rinks in this town, so it's all the people and he basically controls their salaries,” Usufzi said. “There's no checks and balances there, right? If you want to put this into law, then you have the people to make it happen.”
She needed a yes vote to expand or realize a travel program that would qualify about 200 kids on nine teams to compete in state and national championships. Other voting members rejected her, citing NAHA's “new member association” bylaw, she said, even though it has been an existing team for years.
Fiesta Ice Arena operators say they have cut her weekly assignment, and what little ice time she has left is now not nearly enough.
“Our ice time was suspended and they started bringing the Junior Knights team into our building to expand. So while our ice time was suffering, their ice time was adding up. ” Usufzi said. “There is a significant conflict of interest on the NAHA Board.”
she is not alone. Kelly Quinney has a similar problem.
She runs Spectrum on Ice, a nonprofit organization that provides year-round play for children with autism and other developmental abilities. She said her group has been receiving one hour of practice per week so far.
“Due to the lack of ice, we haven't been able to practice in the last few months,” Quinney said in a virtual interview about the difficulties in communicating with Fiesta Ice Arena operators. “No one returned my emails. No one called me back.”
As the parents in her group begin to “take stock,” she is considering the possibility of missing the annual spring tournament due to lack of practice.
“Someone has to do this for these kids. We can't afford not to give them ice. We can't do that. It's not right,” Quinney said. “I want my kids to be able to skate.”
On the other side of the valley, Kirk Brooks owned the Las Vegas Ice Center long before VGK arrived in 2017. He is also the president of The Storm, once the Valley's only youth travel organization.
“When they came in, they all wanted to be Knights,” Brooks said, looking down at the sheet of ice from the adjacent bar to the ice center.
The prospect of wearing the official NHL team logo was convincing enough for Brooks to help expand the newly formed Junior Knights program, he said.
“To turn[the Storm]into Knights — obviously, they didn't have kids. We had all our kids. You get the privilege of wearing a Knights jersey or something like that, so it's a big deal. We changed it,” Brooks said. “That went on for two years and we were supposed to be 50-50 partners and then it became, 'See you later.' You're out the door. We don't need you anymore. Your children. They've been playing for the Knights for two years now. They're not going anywhere.”
Now, the clock is ticking for Usufzi and the Ice Warriors. She accepted the offer and signed a VGK contract that would put a cap on the age of the kids she could coach and phase her out of the Fiesta Ice Arena over the next eight years.
She said she is between accepting the deal and going out of business now.
“Every year I go up, I lose the team,” Usufzi said. “You can create new teams under one association, but he is the one association that controls everything.”
The City of North Las Vegas and Agora Realty declined to comment on the matter. VGK also declined to be interviewed on Elliott's behalf.
Instead, a representative said in a statement emailed to 8 News Now:
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Nevada Amateur Hockey Association and USA Hockey that will allow the Ice Warriors program to continue playing at the Hylo Park Ice Arena while adhering to U.S. Hockey regulations. That was exactly our goal when we took on leadership responsibilities at Jailo Park.”
Like Emmen and others, parents are concerned that the only youth hockey option left for their children will eventually become unaffordable. VGK does not disclose the cost of playing in the Junior Knights program, but Usufzi said it is in the hundreds of dollars per year.
“Parents are really struggling and I think everyone is scrambling to figure out what's going to happen next,” Emens said. “When the Golden Knights came in, we were sold a gift certificate to develop youth hockey. They didn't say anything, but maybe they wanted to develop only with their own brand. I think it is.”
