Pittsburgh Speedskating Club may move to Greensburg's Nevin arena

The Pittsburgh Speedskating Club is looking for a new home and may have found one in Greensburg.

Longtime club secretary Bob Halden said he has begun talks with the Kirk S. Nevin Arena in Greensburg to hold club practices there.

“We'd very much like to get ice time at the Nevin Arena,” he said. “They're saying, ‘Show us there is a demand.' That's what we're trying to do.”

The club had practiced “on and off” at the Mt. Lebanon Recreation Center ice rink since the early 1990s, Halden said, but can no longer afford the facility. The Mt. Lebanon rink closed in March for a major renovation and reopened in September with a new offer for the club — $300 an hour, he said.

“They came to us with a fixed rate, whereas prior to that, people paid whatever the established walk-on rate was,” he said. “We don't have enough people to support that at a reasonable price (per member).”

Nevin Arena manager Trudy Ivory said she's open to the idea but that availablity is limited.

“I have one sheet of ice, and it's booked from morning till night,” she said, noting that she could accommodate the club once a week right after school.

Halden has been trying to grow the club by posting fliers at the Nevin Arena and by bringing speed skates to the Sunday afternoon public skating times.

Although the club is small — it has fewer than 20 members — its past members include speedskating standouts such as Pittsburgh brothers Cole and John-Henry Krueger.

On Friday, John-Henry Krueger qualified for the U.S. Speedskating Team at the U.S. Olympic Team Trial in Salt Lake City. He will compete as a short-track speed skater at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Halden, 75, of Irwin hopes to parlay that once-every-four-years interest in Olympic short-track speedskating into more members for the club.

“We're looking to engage the public and get people excited,” he said.

Halden said it's hard to find ice time at area rinks where the focus is on public skating and hockey. As a club-based sport, short-track speedskating relies on local rinks for practice time.

The Pittsburgh Speedskating Club is one of only two Pennsylvania clubs listed on the official U.S. Speedskating website.

Stephen Huba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1280, shuba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shuba_trib.