October 7, 2026
October 7, 2026
Ford Ice Center – An NHL Gem
After about a year of construction, the Ford Ice Center opened in August 2014. Located in Antioch, Tennessee, and part of The Global Mall at the Crossings, it is much more than a practice facility for the Nashville Predators. With two ice rinks, a pro shop, and a wealth of activities and organizations for the public, this facility is a community center for all things hockey, as shown by the range of services it provided during its first year of operation.
While the Predators only practice at the Ford Ice Center, several other Nashville-area teams use it as their main facility. Both rinks have spectator seating for fans coming to watch the Nashville Jr. Predators or the various club teams that use this state-of-the-art facility (550 seats in the North rink, 300 in the South rink).
The facility is also home to the Scott Hamilton Skating Academy. Founded by the esteemed figure skating champion, this program offers skating instruction to students of all ages, with both private and group lessons in hockey skating and figure skating styles. It even offers a free first class for students who aren’t quite sure yet if skating is for them, along with booster lessons to speed up the learning process for especially excited beginners. Signing up for these lessons is very affordable, even after the initial freebie, and the periodic public skates held at the center are great opportunities for students to show off their new skills.
One of the most interesting things about the Ford Ice Center is its use of a “look-up line” along the boards in both rinks. This 40-inch painted orange line runs the entire way around the boards and gives players who are looking down a warning that they’re entering a dangerous area, giving them time to adjust their body and raise their head before hitting the boards. Given the frequency and severity of boarding injuries in the NHL in the modern era, look-up lines can help increase player awareness of a rink’s danger zones, possibly preventing unfortunate — and potentially serious — injuries during play. Though it hasn’t yet been tried in game arenas at the NHL level, the look-up line’s introduction at the youth level has been gaining ground since its development. The paint doesn’t alter any rules of the game, nor does it interfere with the hash marks, face-off dots, or any other on-ice markings currently in use. The developers of the look-up line work under the same philosophy as the “Heads up, don’t duck!” campaign that started in 1995, also aimed at reducing serious head injuries at all levels of hockey. Including a look-up line in their practice facility shows the Predators to be one of the more forward-thinking clubs in the league.
The NHL has launched several initiatives in recent years to increase the availability and popularity of hockey among youth athletes, most notably the “Hockey Is for Everyone” campaign aimed at increasing access to the sport for underprivileged youth and young athletes of color.
The Nashville Predators have made the facility home to their “Get Out and Learn” (GOAL) program. This free program demonstrates the team’s commitment to developing youth hockey in the Nashville area, one of the last places in the country you might expect to find a lot of ice rinks. Open to both genders, the GOAL program provides student athletes with equipment while they’re learning. The comparatively high cost of equipment involved in playing hockey is one of the major obstacles young players face, and by providing that equipment, the GOAL initiative makes the sport truly available to anyone.
The first year of the center’s existence was a huge success, both as a practice facility for the Predators and as a way of bringing hockey to the people of Nashville. Adult league hockey involvement in Tennessee has quadrupled since the center opened; as of August 2015, these amateur leagues involved more than 600 adult players and 400 youth players.
In October 2015, the Predators developed still another program aimed at bringing skating and hockey to the public. Go Skate is an eight-week program for newcomers to ice skating, open to students of all genders and completely free. Nashville isn’t a city that comes instantly to mind when you think about hockey, but these new initiatives that bring the sport to the community are working to change that.
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