Franklin, Tennessee has exactly one sheet of ice inside city limits, and it is not what most people typing "ice skating in Franklin" expect to find. The Hockey Lab, at 547 Mt. Hope St. near downtown Franklin, is a hockey training facility built around a deliberately small indoor rink, tucked into the back of a warehouse next to Head Springs Depot. It is real ice. It runs year-round training. At certain times of year it has even opened for public skating. And it is still not a public rink in the way Gary Force Acura Ice Arena or the Ford Ice Centers are. Knowing the difference before you drive over is the whole point of this page.
What The Hockey Lab actually is
The Lab (the official name is The Hockey Lab, and everyone in Middle Tennessee hockey shortens it) has been operating in Franklin since at least 2018, when Nashville Public Radio profiled it as a small rink "tucked in the backside of an unassuming warehouse," where players desperate for ice time ran skills drills on a surface too small to simulate a game, resurfaced by a converted Jeep instead of a Zamboni. That profile captured the founding idea: Middle Tennessee's ice shortage was real, and a small sheet close to home beat a full sheet an hour away.
By the facility's own account, it began as a goalie development rink and grew into a full training operation: specialized skill development sessions, girls and youth hockey programs, small group training, and goalie training for players ranging from toddlers and beginners up through pros. The small ice surface is the pitch, not a compromise. The facility's training partners describe it plainly: the tight surface forces more touches, more edges, and more decisions per minute than a full sheet allows. Off the ice, the building pairs rink time with shooting work, strength and conditioning, mobility training, and video analysis.
What the building is not: a full-size rink, a game venue, or a figure skating facility. Nothing in The Lab's published materials mentions a figure skating track, freestyle sessions, or figure skating coaching. Skaters working jumps and spins need the freestyle ice at Gary Force in Nolensville or the Nashville metro rinks.
The training menu
The Lab's published offerings cover the full development stack for hockey players:
- Skill development sessions and classes, grouped by age and level, from young beginners to elite travel players
- Goalie training, the facility's original specialty
- Girls hockey, with learn-to-play and development programs (the facility has published girls programming from U6 through U19)
- In-house youth development programs for the youngest age groups, coached by college and pro alumni
- Private and semi-private lessons, arranged by request around coach and ice availability
- Camps, typically multi-day skills camps by age group pairing on-ice sessions with off-ice shooting, conditioning, and classroom work
- Adult development classes and open hockey, grouped by age
- Learn to Skate and Learn to Play intro classes, the published entry point for kids new to the sport, with rental skates included
The coaching staff has included college and professional alumni; the facility's own staff page has listed offensive skills coach Allie LaCombe, who played NCAA Division I hockey at Syracuse and professionally after it, and former Nashville Predators forward Martin Erat. For a training barn behind a warehouse in a mid-size Tennessee town, that is a serious bench.
One important caveat runs through all of this: much of the pricing and scheduling detail published on the facility's website has aged. Program pages have carried 2020-2021 season pricing, and class listings have carried 2023 dates. The facility itself, its listings, and its booking system remain live, but treat every published number as a starting point and confirm current programs directly before planning around them.
Yes, there is public skating, sometimes
The biggest surprise in The Lab's story is that a hockey training facility opened its doors to public skating at all. It first did so in December 2020, selling limited-capacity holiday sessions at $15 per person with a 20-skater cap and rental skates on site. Public skating then stuck around as a recurring, capacity-capped weekend offering: the most recently published schedule listed Saturday and Sunday sessions in seasonal blocks at $25 per person, still capped around 20 skaters, rentals included, with advance online booking requested.
Read that closely, because it describes something different from a Ford Ice public skate. Twenty people on a small training sheet is closer to a semi-private session than a big open skate, which is either the best public skating experience in the county or the wrong product entirely, depending on what you want. A confident skater who wants room to move, or a parent who wants a first-timer nowhere near a crowd, may love it. A group that wants the full big-rink experience, music, crowds, and a snack bar should head to Nolensville or Antioch instead.
The same confirm-first rule applies double here: public skate blocks at The Lab have been seasonal and capacity-limited, and the published schedule has not stayed current. Check the website, the facility's social feeds, or call before making the drive. The facility has also published birthday party hosting and private ice rental (a daytime rental rate of $200 appeared in its published materials), which on a 20-person sheet is one of the more attainable private-ice options anywhere in the metro, if current availability confirms.
Who should go to The Lab, and who should not
Go to The Lab if you are a hockey player, or the parent of one, who wants skills development, goalie work, small group training, or an intro to hockey close to Franklin. This is what the building is for, and it is the only ice in Franklin proper.
Go elsewhere if you want a standard public skate, skating lessons in a badge-level program, or figure skating ice. Gary Force Acura Ice Arena is Williamson County's full-size, year-round sheet, with public skate, stick and puck, and freestyle sessions registered online. Ford Ice Center Antioch adds published pricing, the Scott Hamilton Skating Academy's Learn to Skate program, and the Predators' free youth hockey intro. The complete local rundown, including the Brentwood and Nolensville picture, lives in our Franklin and Williamson County guide, and the wider metro comparison is in the Nashville ice skating hub.
Booking and practical notes
The Lab books through its website, labhockey.com, with online registration for classes, camps, and sessions, and private training arranged by request. The published phone number is (615) 450-8640, and published operating hours have run weekday afternoons into the evening. The building sits behind a warehouse near downtown Franklin rather than on a retail strip, so trust the map app on the first visit, and know that the entrance is not obvious from the street.
The standing advice for this facility, more than any other in the county: confirm before you drive. The operation is real and the listings are live, but the website's published schedules and prices have lagged behind the calendar, so a two-minute call saves a wasted trip.
Where The Lab fits in Franklin's ice story
Franklin used to have more ice than this. From 2000 to 2016, the Cool Springs area had two full sheets at what became A-Game Sportsplex, and when that building closed, Williamson County went five years with no ice at all. The Lab's founding era overlaps that gap, which explains its existence better than any brochure: it was built for a hockey community that had lost its home ice and needed somewhere, anywhere, to train. That whole arc is in our Franklin ice rink history.
The county's ice came back in 2021 with the Nolensville sheet, and it may grow again: a proposed development at Brownland Farm would bring a two-sheet, Predators-operated facility to Franklin itself. We track that project's status in the Banks at Brownland tracker. Until something changes, the honest map of Franklin ice is: one small training sheet on Mt. Hope Street, one full sheet in Nolensville, and everything else up the interstate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Hockey Lab in Franklin open to the public?
Partly. The Lab is a hockey training facility first, but it has run limited-capacity public skate sessions (around 20 skaters, rentals included, booked in advance) on weekends in seasonal blocks, plus stick and puck, open hockey, birthday parties, and private ice rental. Its published schedule has not stayed current, so confirm current public sessions directly before visiting.
Does The Lab in Franklin have real ice?
Yes. It is a real, refrigerated indoor ice sheet, deliberately smaller than a standard rink, housed in a warehouse at 547 Mt. Hope St. near downtown Franklin. The small surface is designed for skills training rather than games.
Can you learn to skate at The Hockey Lab?
The Lab has published Learn to Skate and Learn to Play intro classes with rental skates included, aimed at getting new skaters and young hockey players started. For a badge-level Learn to Skate USA program with a full class ladder, the nearest confirmed option is the Scott Hamilton Skating Academy at Ford Ice Center Antioch.
Does The Hockey Lab offer figure skating?
No figure skating programming appears in the facility's published materials. Figure skaters need the freestyle sessions at Gary Force Acura Ice Arena in Nolensville or the Nashville metro rinks.
How much does public skating cost at The Lab?
The most recently published rate was $25 per person with skate rental included, up from $15 when public sessions debuted in December 2020. Sessions are capacity-capped and booked online in advance. Confirm the current rate when booking, since published prices have lagged.
Is The Hockey Lab still open in 2026?
The facility's website, booking system, and listings are live, and no closure has been reported. But its published schedules have run behind the calendar, so call (615) 450-8640 or check its social feeds for current programming before planning a visit.