With more kids than ever hitting the ice for hockey — including 90,000 girls under 18, according to USA Hockey — new rinks are in high demand. That’s why TJ client Nicholas Family of Companies recently announced it is building another new hockey rink, this one in Elk Grove Village, a Chicago suburb, bringing its total number of ice arenas to four. To share the story, Taylor Johnson pitched CEO and Managing Director Nick Papanicholas Jr. to WGN Radio’s Wintrust Business Lunch. As part of a true “hockey family,” Papanicholas knows what players and parents value most: early ice times for kids, study rooms to balance school and sport, and lounges and eateries for adults. A recognized expert in ice arena development, he was the perfect source to explain how new rinks meet the sport’s rapid growth.
