When Dr. Minsue Chen went to her first hockey game, it literally changed her life. She says, “The guy next to me at the Houston Aeros game was pounding on the glass to distract the players. I couldn’t believe the action and the adrenaline. I’d always been a runner and I’d played soccer, but I loved the grace of ice hockey, the teamwork and the rush! The game went into two overtimes and the Aeros won in a shootout…and I was hooked! I told my husband, “I want to play hockey!”

“I’d never skated in my life, so I signed up for beginner lessons. Finally I was ready to try the Hockey Academy at the Sugar Land Ice Rink. Shawn Saltus, the assistant coach of the Imperials Ice Hockey team, took me to the equipment closet and found me everything (besides the stick and helmet) I needed. I was so touched by his encouragement. I’m thirty-one and my Hockey Academy class was mostly elementary school kids…but once I graduated I started playing in the Women’s League and in the Novice League. I absolutely love it! Our league has women players who are fifteen and women in their sixties. Hockey’s a great indoor, year-round sport that’s high-energy, social, and really fun!”

“Once you try hockey,” says Dr. Chen, “nothing is faster or more exciting. My husband doesn’t play, but now he won’t watch anything else! As hockey fans, we were disappointed when the Aeros left Houston…until the Imperials Hockey Team, Sugar Land’s first NA3HL South Division team arrived. When I heard they were looking for families to host the players, my husband and I volunteered. The rink has been so good to me that I was happy to have a chance to help them out. These kids are between the ages of sixteen and twenty, all really good kids with the goal of playing professional hockey. They’re excited to read in my bio that I play ice hockey. Since I’m a 5’3” skin cancer surgeon, they don’t expect me to be a hockey player, too. The truth is, hockey’s a fantastic sport to watch…and you don’t have to be a professional to have all the fun of playing!”

With a full slate of classes, leagues, and clinics, as well as a world class team of coaches, Sugar Land Ice provides the most comprehensive hockey program in the region. You’ll find hockey, figure skating, ice bumper cars, broomball, and families skating––even in the middle of summer––on the two rinks and 72,500 square feet of the Sugar Land Ice and Sports Center.

“Whatever your goals,” says Dr. Chen, “Sugar Land Ice and Sports Center is right in the center of Sugar Land…ready to help you succeed!”

Sugar Land Ice & Sports Center
281-265-7465
16225 Lexington Blvd,
Sugar Land, TX 77479
www.sugarlandice.com