Sixteen teams braved classic stick season raw weather to lend helping hands to haul a seven ton Zamboni the length of a forty foot course adjacent to Six Rivers Youth Sports indoor turf field just off Route 201 in Topsham.
Their cause? Raise $400,000 before the end of the year to unlock a $400,000 matching grant so Six Rivers Youth Sports can move forward with plans to add an indoor, fully refrigerated, NHL sized ice arena to the lot. Familiar to many as the former sites of Roller World and “The Dome,” Six Rivers recently doubled the acreage available for the project. As the location has been a destination for generations of young people, the spot is a cinch as the best place to add a new ice sheet to the local inventory.
The Bowdoin Men’s Ice Hockey team, whose home ice, the Sidney J. Watson Arena, is the only other local sheet, stepped up to put three teams into the Zamboni Pulling contest but plenty of other luminaries put teams in as well. Like most good fundraisers, this was as much about Fun as Funds. Costumes and team apparel were de rigueur. “It was gratifying to all the volunteers at Six Rivers Youth Sports to see so many people turn out and pull together with excitement for the new rink,” said Bill Patterson, the longtime President of the non-profit’s board.
Being first on the course hampered the Brunswick Hockey Moms. The Moms were hamstrung by the fact that the Zamboni’s snow tank was still filled to the brim with water. Sloshing over many heats lightened its load so the boys from Bowdoin had it easy by their turn on the course. But hard work didn’t challenge these women; they’ve been putting in the miles for their hockey players for years.
Brunswick’s Hockey Moms, tired of driving all winter for practices, came equipped with work gloves to give the Zamboni a pull for their teams. The course had gotten smooth and fast by the end of the afternoon but the hockey Moms pulled first. Even with a Zamboni full of water and the course frozen and bumpy, the Moms got it done.
Why does the region need a new ice arena? After-all Bowdoin’s state of the art Watson Arena is home to Brunswick 2022 State Champion Boys Hockey team, the State’s only public school with a stand alone girls team in the Brunswick Dragons, two teams from Mt. Ararat, and legions of youth hockey players and figure skaters throughout the community.
That is just the point. Things have changed since Bowdoin built its first indoor rink in 1959. The demands on ice time at the college have changed with the growth of women’s hockey at all levels and increased regionalization of high school sports.. The four high school teams from Mt. Ararat and Brunswick now represent six or eight different schools from Lisbon to Wiscasset, across to Freeport, and every town in between.
The twin sheets of Auburn’s Norway Savings Bank Arena have long been a second home for the area’s youth skaters but consider the 11 year-old skater sitting in a car with her parents, driving from somewhere on Orr’s Island to Auburn for hockey practice on a weekday night. She’s eating dinner on the fly in the car, and hitting the ice at 7 PM. After an hour of drills she will be lucky to be home for bed at 9 p.m. Meanwhile her mom is watching the snow falling, wondering what Rte. 196 will look like on the way home.
It’s not just about youth youth hockey or high school hockey. The new rink will provide recreation for the area’s adult leagues, figure skaters, curling leagues, and recreational skaters. Even now, the turf field is an asset to the community providing off season indoor practice facilities for the local field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer players.
A 2016 estimate by Midcoast Youth Hockey found that a child spends a minimum of 66 hours in the car over the course of a season, to get 44 hours of practice time. Even carpooling with three players a car, the Midcoast Youth Hockey Association was driving roughly 62,000 miles a year to make sure its skaters got their ice time.
So the Moms know driving and they know Zambonis. They also know a good time. While they came out clad in hockey jerseys representing the local squads, plenty of the other teams put on their best threads to celebrate the occasion. The unofficial best costume contest was a toss-up. On the one hand was Izzy’s Fab Club with their ugly seasonal sweaters and classic denim jorts. On the other was the Morning Wake-Up Hockey Club complete with Stove Pipe hats and a human sized rabbit mascot.
Pizzas, beer, and treats were provided by The Osprey, Moderation Brewing, and The Pejepscot.
All together this event raised $10,950 which together with the December match totals out to just shy of $22,000.
With 15 days to go in December there is plenty of time to have your gift matched. Hop on over the the Six Rivers Website and make a pledge.
Brunswick Boys Hockey team gives it a pull.
The Bowdoin College Men’s Ice Hockey Team, led by second year Coach Ben Guide put three teams in the contest.
