History of Kevin Bell Arena

The Homer Hockey Association (HHA) was established informally in the mid-1970s to provide the opportunity for Homer, Alaska area children to learn to skate and play hockey at an outdoor rink behind the middle school. HHA provided training for youth of all ages and supported a competitive high school hockey team. In 1991, HHA reorganized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

HHA members worked for more than 10 years to pull together the resources needed to build a refrigerated indoor ice rink in Homer. Together with Homer Spit Properties, The Rasmuson Foundation, Arctic Winter Games funding, The Murdock Foundation and a great deal of public support, the Homer Ice Rink, located on the Homer Spit, was built and opened in April, 2005.

As the local affiliate of USA Hockey, HHA provides adult-supervised hockey training and competition for skaters of various skill levels from ages 4-18 as well as adult hockey leagues for men and women. Today HHA has 160 youth members, 115 adult members plus many volunteer team coaches and managers.

The new rink was built through the efforts of many, many supporters, but no one individual worked more enthusiastically than Kevin Bell. He was Homer’s “Mr. Hockey”, and when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2006 the HHA named the rink after him.

The Kevin Bell Arena has two full time employees. It is one of only a handful of indoor rinks in North America run primarily by volunteers. The facility is well managed and provides a great environment to play in, but it is an almost impossible task with our small population base to try to run this kind of facility with no municipal support.

In 2012 the Homer Hockey Association received the Alaska Recreation & Parks Association (ARPA) Outstanding Organization Award.

Find out more at the Homer Hockey Association/Kevin Bell Arena website.