Ann Arbor Ice Cube/Wikipedia
Black Bear Sports Group is quickly becoming a name to know in the Michigan hockey community.
Over the past few months, the Maryland-based company has acquired the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, Suburban Ice East Lansing and now the Hazel Park Viking Ice Arena.
“We are excited to announce Black Bear’s continued expansion in Detroit,” said Murry Gunty, Founder and CEO of Black Bear. “The City of Hazel Park was fantastic to work with on this deal and we are looking forward to expanding operations and programming so the rink continues to serve as an important resource for the community.”
Black Bear have also welcomed the Biggby Coffee Hockey Club into their Ann Arbor facility.
“Michigan is a market we have been exploring and believe is ripe for consolidation both at the rink and club level,” Gunty said in a November press release. “This state continues to produce some of the top talent in both hockey and figure skating and we are thrilled to bring our leagues and tournament business to Ann Arbor.”
While the Ann Arbor facility has kept its Ann Arbor Ice Cube/A2Ice3 name, the East Lansing facility has been rebranded as the East Lansing Ice Cube. There was not a mention of a renaming for the Hazel Park building in the initial press release announcing the rink sale.
