Hockey Rink Supporters Back for Round 2

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported the day of this weekend's volunteer gathering at the hockey rink. Volunteers are encouraged to arrive at the rink by 10 a.m. Sunday, April 28.

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Volunteers will gather at the hockey rink at Memorial Park this weekend for phase II of their continuing effort to restore the rink to its former glory.

Several supporters, including past players and coaches in the defunct Cinnaminson Roller Hockey League, performed minor repairs and aesthetic improvements to the rink during Park Cleanup Day last month. And last week, township committee OK'd a contract with Nickolaus Construction for $3,800 to make repairs to the playing surface. 

Ahead of those repairs, former Roller Hockey coach Brian Lowy and his son (and former player), Tyler, are organizing another get-together at the rink this Sunday to make additional improvements, including scraping off and sweeping up the peeling paint, in preparation for a painter to come in and spray the entire rink with a new coat.

"We also are looking for someone with some carpentry skills to come in and repair a few boards that have holes in them and repair some of the support boards on the overhanging roof structures," the elder Lowy wrote in an email to Patch.

He advised that volunteers should bring their own paint-scraping tools, brooms, dustpans, carpentry tools and ladders (to scrape the roof structures).

Work will begin at 10 a.m.

Lowy said supporters are hoping to raise as much as $2,000 via donations to cover all of the repair work, materials, painting, and possibly new nets.

The repairs to the rink surface will make it playable again, but won't be a cure-all for all its woes. Those fixes—which are primarily aesthetic in nature—will be more expensive and will depend partly on the amount of activity the rink sees once it's reopened, said Committeeman Don Brauckmann. 

The committeeman said he's interested in making the rink "multi-use," potentially holding fitness classes there, along with hockey. 

When those types of programs might be launched "all depends on how long (the repairs) take," he said.

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