KVHA Announcement regarding the sale of KVIH to Black Bear Sports Group

The announcement of the sale of KVIH to Black Bear Sports Group can be found at the following link:

https://blackbearsportsgroup.com/2024/02/05/black-bear-sports-group-adds-fourth-michigan-location/.

Because KVHA was not directly involved in the sale of the facility, we were apprehensive to announce anything for fear of creating new or adding to existing rumors.    Now that this has been finalized, we are very optimistic for the future of the KVHA and our local hockey community.

Black Bear is not merely a steward of rinks, they are hockey people and understand the issues and the successes to be had in the sport.  They are committed to growing the game and creating new opportunities outside of the status quo.  In addition to their 37 ice rinks, they own four hockey leagues (Atlantic Hockey Federation, Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation, Tier 1 Hockey Federation, and National Girls Hockey League), two tournament businesses (Defender Hockey Tournaments and The Show Tournaments), seven Junior “A” hockey franchises with membership in the United States Hockey League, North American Hockey League, USPHL NCDC, USPHL Premier and Elite, and the Eastern Hockey League, and Foundry Adult Hockey, the largest adult hockey organization in the USA.   This will lead to many new and exciting opportunities for our teams and players.

On Tuesday, February 6th, some of the KVHA BoD met with Evan Chizik, the National Director of Ice Arena Operations for Black Bear.  Black Bear is excited to have KVHA as part of their organization and would like to keep all of our programs in place moving forward.   They are committed to making vital mechanical improvements to the building and other necessary updates and these will be occurring over the course of the next several months.  We are committed to working with Black Bear to ensure the transition is seamless for our membership and that we are able to keep costs similar to what they are now.

Most of the teams who skate in Hartland 100% of the time will stay in Hartland and form the basis of a new for-profit Hartland Hockey Club.   Prior to the sale, the KVHA and Hartland Sports Center ownership worked on and signed an agreement that mutually benefits both the KVHA and Hartland Sports Center.  Part of this agreement has the KVHA purchasing ice for our teams at Hartland. We expect to have a good working relationship with them going forward, as we always have, and hope that both rinks continue to thrive.

We have a lot of exciting things happening in Brighton and the KVHA will continue to grow and get better with the addition of the Michigan Elite Sports Academy and all of the great opportunities that Black Bear has to offer.