Newark's rink began outdoors in the 1980s and was rebuilt by donors and volunteers in 2005.
Lou & Gib Reese Ice Arena began in the early 1980s as the Newark Municipal Ice Rink, an outdoor surface built with surplus equipment from a facility in New York. Parks and Recreation Director Terry Frame established it, and it stayed outdoors until it was enclosed in the mid-1990s.
In 2005 hockey parents Alan Hoffmann and Robert O'Neill led a renovation that City Council approved that June, and in six months nearly $1.7 million in cash and in-kind donations, with volunteer and professional labor, rebuilt the arena. A locker room addition followed in 2016, and the non-profit Newark Sport and Event Commission now oversees the rink through a public-private partnership.
Known to regulars simply as the Lou Gib, it is home ice for Denison University's hockey team, which keeps a varsity locker room here about four miles from campus and practices late at night, arriving as the Zamboni levels the ice. Its adult league has passed twenty years here, and 2025-26 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Newark Ice Hockey Association and Generals hockey.
Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.
Weekday Noon Skate admission is $5, weekend and holiday-event admission is $12, and Lights Out At The Lou, the Friday-night DJ skate, is $15. Rates are per person for all ages. Groups of 20 or more can request a group rate. Freestyle practice ice is billed at $4 for every 15 minutes on-ice, equivalent to $16 per hour; skaters must have passed the ISI Alpha test or higher and have a scheduled private lesson.
Source checked · · Official source
Figure and hockey skate rental is available at the pro shop with no separate charge listed beyond public-skate admission, in sizes from a child's 8 up to an adult 13 (rentals run a size large, so size down one). Skate aids cost $5 each, with only 12 available first come, first served.
Source checked · · Official source
Stick-n-Puck has no pre-registration: sign in at the arena pro shop, no earlier than 1 hour before the session.
Source checked · · Official source
Skate aids cost $5 and only 12 are available, first come first served, from the pro shop. Rental figure and hockey skates run from a child's size 8 to an adult 13. Children may not be carried while on the ice, and skates (not regular shoes) are required to enter the ice.
Source checked · · Official source
A source check records what the rink published on that date. Session-specific booking details take precedence.