It's summer — in Hawai'i, no less — and Ben Scheuring is dreaming about becoming a pro hockey player.

He's never seen snow in his life. But the 13-year-old from Salt Lake has been skating for eight years already — at the Ice Palace in Stadium Mall.

"It's pretty cool," said the Aliamanu Intermediate School eighth-grader, who went to a hockey camp in Minnesota this summer. "A lot of other places, kids play baseball in the summers. And here, I'm playing hockey all year-round. It's a lot of fun."

Since it opened in 1982, the ice rink has become a fixture in Hawai'i. During these super-hot summer months, it may be the best place to truly chill out.

On Tuesday, Scheuring, in board shorts and a T-shirt, was hanging out at the rink. There was nothing good on TV, he said. And besides, he'd rather lace up and hit the ice.

"I have a lot of family and friends here, so whenever I come down I just have fun and talk to other people and make new friends."

The 25,000-square-foot ice rink is home to hockey leagues, aspiring Olympians and thousands of birthday parties. Just this month it hosted the U.S. Figure Skating 2005 National Collegiate Championships, with participation by more than 40 universities and colleges. It was the first national figure skating competition held in Hawai'i.

But the Ice Palace has long been a popular hangout for teens bored with the mall and multiplex. On weekend nights the place turns into an all-ages nightclub of sorts, with pumping music, swirling lights and lots of adrenaline.

Scheuring is more about hockey, though.

Sure, he likes to freeskate — and play football and paddle — but he can't shake his passion for hockey. Maybe it's in his genes: his father grew up playing hockey in Minnesota.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.