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<p>The ice hockey competition portion of this week&#8217;s Keystone State Games Festival of Sports won&#8217;t be held in hosting Luzerne County because it does not have two rinks under one roof &#8212; a shortcoming that may be worth addressing, some say.</p><p>Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Janet Hall urged officials to consider the issue, saying the county is &#8220;losing some of the economic impact&#8221; of hosting the games.</p><p>Described as the state&#8217;s largest annual multi-sport competition for amateur athletes, the Keystone State Games will be held here in 2018 and 2019, but organizers haven&#8217;t decided if the competition will go somewhere else after that. The economic benefit for lodging establishments and other businesses in the host county is in the millions, officials have said.</p><p>Hall said organizers were interested in ice hockey competition at the Toyota SportsPlex at Coal Street Park, but it has only one rink.</p><p>&#8220;They didn&#8217;t want to have separate tournaments at two different locations because it would increase staffing and costs,&#8221; Hall said.</p><p>Instead, the ice hockey competition will be held at the York City Ice Arena, according to the Keystone Games website. York County previously hosted the games.</p><p>Jason Jarecki, general manager of the Toyota Sportsplex, said there is high demand for a second rink at his facility, even without the Keystone Games competition, but the challenge is identifying funding.</p><p>The cost of a second rink has been projected at $3 million to $5 million, Jarecki said.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s grown to the point that it&#8217;s inevitable there must be two sheets, but I don&#8217;t want to guess if or when it will happen,&#8221; Jarecki said. &#8220;I could have used two sheets three or four years ago.&#8221;</p><p>The facility is &#8220;booked to capacity&#8221; from the end of September to the middle of March and still busy during the warmer months, he said.</p><p>The Toyota SportsPlex is the practice facility for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team and hosts hockey leagues, figure skating, curling and public skating.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m at a point now where I have to be very creative with scheduling,&#8221; Jarecki said, noting he does not want to shortchange public skating and youth skating lessons. &#8220;If we had a second rink, I could book it out no problem.&#8221;</p><p>Jarecki also stressed rinks can be designed for multipurpose use to allow festivals and other non-ice events as needed.</p><p>Tim Evans, chairman of the nonprofit Coal Street Redevelopment overseeing the Toyota SportsPlex, said there are &#8220;no immediate plans&#8221; to add a second rink.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Games highlights need of SportsPlex expansion</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Demand for second ice rink at Toyota SportsPlex discussed