The Southern Zone Age Group Swimming Championships, which start today at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, are just one of the many recreational sports events you'll find listed below in the expanded version of the Play! recreational sports calendar.

Summer has barely started, but already it's time to think about fall, especially if you plan to play in a fall recreational sports league.

Deadlines already are approaching for some organizations, and leagues are filling fast.

RecZone, the Raleigh ice rink that closed earlier this month after being foreclosed upon, will be renovated and reopen under a new name in mid-August.

Liberty Solutions, which has been hired to manage the facility for BB&T Bank until it is sold, has contracted with CCS and Patrick Cavanagh, who owns the Chilled Ponds Ice and Turf Sports Complex in Chesapeake, Va., on the renovations.

The facility's new name will be Raleigh Center Ice.

"We are fully committed to bringing Raleigh Center Ice up to a world class facility and are thrilled to have secured a working agreement with Patrick on this project, he has a proven track record for excellence in this industry and we want the finest product for the Raleigh community," said Chip Shelton, Liberty Solutions president, in a release.

The renovations will include a new ice plant to make the facility more energy efficient and a new dasher board and glass system. The lobby is also being renovated.

The RecZone's closing displaced hundreds of skaters and hockey players. On average, more than 1,200 people used the facility each week.

The Carolina Hurricanes practiced at the rink, and it was also the home ice for N.C. State University's club hockey team.

The rink hosted youth and adult leagues, figure skating, pickup game sessions, recreational skating, summer camps and instructional skating sessions.

Its outdoor facilities were used by lacrosse and street hockey teams.

All those activities are expected to resume under the new management.

RecZone, the Raleigh ice rink that was foreclosed upon last month, has closed.

John Biedermann, whose family has owned the facility since 2000, said he found out Monday that BB&T Bank wanted the rink closed down earlier than he had expected. Biedermann had hoped to keep the facility open through June 15.

BB&T has appointed Liberty Solutions of Charlotte to manage the property. A bank spokesman said last month that BB&T would make a decision about the property's future soon.

Biedermann said he hopes that someone will buy the facility from the bank and quickly reopen it.

“There is absolutely a lot of need here in this town,” he said. “If it isn’t opened again, it’s really going to hurt.”

The RecZone's closing will displace hundreds of skaters and hockey players, and will also make it harder to schedule ice time at other rinks.

On average, more than 1,200 people used the facility each week.

Check out the Play! Recreational Sports Calendar with listings for camps, leagues, tryouts, instruction, fundraisers, tournaments and events around the Triangle and elsewhere.

A week into July already! How summer flies.

The season's summer sports camps are flying by, too, but a few spots remain in camps offered by colleges, professional teams, pro athletes, high schools, grade schools, churches, parks and recreation departments, nonprofit organizations and for-profit enterprises around the area.

The camps cover a variety of sports, including baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, jump rope, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball and wrestling. Multi-sport camps give participants a chance to try a variety of sports without having to pay for several camps.

More than 14,000 amateur athletes of all ages - including many from the Triangle - are expected to converge in and around Charlotte for the Powerade State Games of North Carolina.

Opening ceremonies take place at 8 p.m. Friday at the Paladium at Carowinds theme park, and competition ends June 27.

The Olympic-style festival will include a variety of age and skill levels in baseball, basketball, BMX, cycling criterium , disc golf, fencing, figure skating, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, karate, lacrosse, mountain biking, soccer, softball, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, track and field and wrestling.

Players from the Capital City Crew and the Raleigh Youth Hockey
Association will get to learn from two ice hockey icons Saturday when
Willie O'Ree and Tony McKegney visit for a Hockey Is For Everyone
clinic coordinated by the National Hockey League and the Carolina
Hurricanes.

The clinic takes place 4-6 p.m. at the Cary Ice House,
which is located at 1410 Buck Jones Road. Only invited players will be
on the ice, but spectators are welcome. Admission will be free.

O'Ree and McKegney
serve as ambassadors for the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone Initiative.
In 1958, O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL, and in 1988,
McKegney became the first black player to score 40 goals in a season.

This week's warm and sunny days are a reminder that spring is not far
away, and that means it's time for spring recreational league and
summer sports camp registration.

Recreational league signups are under way or starting soon in numerous
sports - among them baseball, T-Ball, flag football, inline hockey,
soccer softball and volleyball - through a variety of parks and
recreation programs, nonprofit multisport organizations and commercial
operations.

And it's never too early to register for summer sports camps. Many of those camps fill quickly.

The Carolina Hurricanes played hard and for the most part played well Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canes banged and hounded the puck. Ray Whitney scored twice and Cam
Ward twice made spectacular saves to deny the Penguins a goal. Carolina
gamely rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score and force overtime.

But the Hurricanes couldn't finish it off against the Stanley Cup
champions. The Penguins took a 3-2 shootout victory at the RBC Center
on Chris Kunitz' goal.