The former Rostraver Ice Garden may have a new name, but it remains a special place to Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley.

The 60-year-old ice hockey arena, located in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, is now named the cfsbank Event Center and it’s the rink where Cooley developed his love for the game.

Officials at the arena held “Logan Cooley Night” on Aug. 21 and honored the rising NHL star, who gave back to the current generation of players at the same rink where he discovered his passion for hockey.

“This is where it all started,” Cooley said. “This is where I fell in love with the game and knew I wanted to do something special with it.”

After starring for the University of Minnesota during the 2022–23 season, Cooley earned a spot on the NHL’s All-Rookie Team in 2023-24. Last season with Utah, Cooley scored a career-best 25 goals and finished second on the team with 65 points.

Before Cooley emerged as one of the top young stars in the NHL, he started with the Mon Valley Thunder Youth Hockey Association in Rostraver. On “Logan Cooley Night,” he returned to watch his former youth team practice.

“To see all these little kids out here, I was one of those kids at one time,” Cooley said. “They’re all chasing their dreams and want to play in the NHL just like I did.”

Cooley participated in Sidney Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program in 2008—the inaugural year of Crosby’s introductory hockey program which gives players free head-to-toe equipment and multiple on-ice sessions with certified USA Hockey coaches.

The 21-year-old Cooley went from a past program participant of Crosby’s grassroots hockey initiative to eventually squaring off against the three-time Stanley Cup champion in the NHL. 

Cooley spent several years in Rostraver with the Mon Valley Thunder before playing with the Pittsburgh Predators at the Ice Castle Arena in Castle Shannon just south of Pittsburgh. He eventually joined the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program, which is based out of the Penguins’ practice facility in nearby Cranberry Township.

Cooley, while playing with the Penguins Elite, was a teenager on his way to Rostraver when he learned that he earned a roster spot at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

“Obviously, playing for your country is a super big honor,” he said. “Growing up, it was something I wanted to accomplish and just finding out that I made it was a true honor.”

Cooley eventually became the highest-drafted player to date from the Pittsburgh area when the Arizona Coyotes selected him No. 3 overall in 2022. 

During “Logan Cooley Night” officials unveiled a banner that will forever hang at the arena in Rostraver, highlighting the accomplishment for future generations.

“I think having [the banner] up there gives kids hope,” Cooley said. “Everyone wants to play in the NHL, just like I did. Now, they can look up there, see it’s possible and hopefully a few of them can make it one day.”

Cooley enjoyed a career highlight this past May when he helped the U.S. win a gold medal at the IIHF Men’s World Championship for the first time in 92 years. 

Cooley, who assisted on Tage Thompson’s gold medal-winning goal in overtime against Switzerland, tied for the team lead at the tournament with 12 points.

“We had such an unbelievable group, and it was an unbelievable experience, winning gold,” Cooley said. “The gold-medal game was one of the most fun games I’ve ever been a part of. It just capped everything off by winning it for our country.”

Before Cooley helped win one of the most important gold medals in U.S. hockey history, he envisioned his future and enjoyed his earliest hockey memories in Rostraver. The rink, which opened in 1965, hosted Penguins training camp in the 1970s, survived a roof collapse in 2010 because of heavy snow and won the 2017 Kraft Hockeyville competition, which led to $150,000 in arena upgrades and a preseason game in the area between the Penguins and the St. Louis Blues.

Cooley took in his return trip to Rostraver, as he signed autographs, posed for photos with current players, watched practice and observed that the Mon Valley Thunder uniforms are “still pretty similar in style” compared to when he played.

Though Cooley currently skates in state-of-the-art arenas across the world, he still considers the 60-year-old, 5,000-seat arena in Rostraver as his home.

“This is the rink I grew up playing at,” he concluded. “It’s a place I’ll always come back to because I love it here. It’s super special to me.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Gear up for the NHL season by checking out the October issue of USA Hockey Magazine.