While many are enjoying the region’s wintry wonderland, and others are struggling to dig out of the record-breaking snowfall, one area hockey rink truly felt the brunt of this storm.
The Prince William Ice Center in Dale City collapsed on Saturday from the weight of the snow. Rink owner Bill Hutzler said, “We had some speed skaters on the ice this morning, then a beam on ceiling started to twist and … we got everybody out.”
The rink was home to hundreds of youth hockey players in the region, a tier II hockey club and a tier I junior hockey team. The collapse has totaled the facility; owners will have to rebuild from scratch.
R. J. Zeigler, one of those instrumental in bringing the rink to fruition in 1996, shared:
It was the place that kids looked forward to going to when they were watching the clock at school. It was the place that those of us that worked there took so much pride in making it everything we could. From the volunteer parents to the full time employees, we all made the Prince William Ice Center a great place for kids and adults of all ages to come figure skate, play hockey, or just skate recreationally. The tragic loss of our facility will leave a void in the community that will reach deep into the hearts of so many people of all ages.
The hockey community is strong and we will continue to move forward regardless of how large a setback this is. I have already heard of potential charity games and competitions at other facilities to help re-build our great rink. Regardless – WE WILL BE BACK. I promise everyone that our entire staff will do everything we can to get things re-built as soon as possible.
We wish the Prince William hockey community well, and look forward their progress toward rebuilding their hockey home away from home. Click here if you’d like to read more about the rink and their efforts to rebuild.
5 Comments
Oh thank goodness everyone got out before the collapse and it wasn’t more of a tragedy!
Snow related:
Are the Caps gonna get outta town to Montreal before the next round of snow?
@ TED: The Caps are planning to fly up to Montreal on Tuesday. Then they’ll go straight to Ottawa late Wednesday night to face the Sens Thursday. So they should be A-OK.
The real tragedy of this is that I can almost guarantee that the ice rink ownership will be put through the ringer trying to get its insurance company to cover any of this. The insurer will likely put the onus on the builder for such a collapse, who will place blame on the engineers, etc. and on down the line. Meanwhile, hockey games are not being played. Every time a hockey game is cancelled, an angel takes a stick to the nuts.
As one of the many hockey moms who spent countless hours in that rink, I can say it’s quite a tragedy for our community. Even worse is the burden that is now being born by the (now former) employees of the rink who catastrophically lost their jobs in that collapse. Some of them have been there since they were teens. We’re thankful that no one was hurt, but we’ve got a lot of hockey players who are bewildered and bored!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by OnFrozenBlog, JM in DC, Tracy Tran, Larry Snyder, Paul Stone and others. Paul Stone said: Oh no! Prince William ice rink! RT @OnFrozenBlog: Collapsed Roof at Virginia Hockey Rink http://bit.ly/bMQZiC -#caps #CapsTwackle [...]
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