February 18, 2010
Flagstaff moving forward after rink setback
Despite last month's roof collapse of Flagstaff's Jay Lively Activity Center, the rink is expected to be rebuilt. (Dave Saurer)
Eighty-eight.
Flagstaff hockey enthusiasts better get used to seeing that number on their odometers over the next handful of months; it's the door-to-door mileage from the Jay Lively Activity Center - the once and presumably future home of Flagstaff's hockey scene - and Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, the next nearest sheet of ice in the Northern Arizona area.
For the foreseeable future, Flagstaff's ice sports programs, from the Flagstaff Youth Hockey Association (FYHA), to the Northern Arizona University (NAU) Ice Jacks, to adults and figure skating, too, will be without a true home in their mountain city.
In the wee hours of an otherwise cold and quiet Friday morning in Flagstaff last month during one of the strongest winter storms the state had seen in years, too much snow collected on a pitched portion of the roof at Jay Lively, causing it to cave in and resulting in catastrophic damage to the venerable city-operated facility.
With the damage to the roof too extensive for immediate repair, the situation also caused the indoor sprinkler system to activate, flooding the building and rendering it useless for many months ahead.
"You've got 200 FYHA kids, the NAU team, high school, adult leagues, figure skating clubs - we're all pretty much homeless right now," said Matt Evans, president of the FYHA.
Evans said the reaction of his son, a 12-year-old Pee Wee travel player, summed up the situation.
"His first reaction was kind of utter silence," Evans said. "His first question was, 'Daddy, does that mean no more hockey?'"
The answer, at least in the long term, is that there will be hockey again in Flagstaff, Evans proclaims.
Rinks and associations statewide immediately opened their doors to help the Flagstaff community latch on to whatever ice time it could - despite the long car rides - and within days, if not hours, Flagstaff hockey leaders and city officials came together to try to start the process of bringing hockey back.
"We've also been inundated with goodwill from all the other associations within Arizona," Evans said, noting that travel teams should be able to find workable ice time as needed. "The kind of real bummer for us is that our house program, for all intents and purposes, is over for the year.
"Ninety-five kids, no other outlet. We're trying to patch together anything we can to make them still feel a part of the association, feel like hockey players, which is what they wanted to be."
The Arizona Daily Sun reported what Evans believed, too - that city officials had confirmed a sincere desire to rebuild the facility as soon as possible. The report noted that an insurance claim on the building had already been filed as of late last month.
"For the last several years, we've had an excellent partnership with the city," Evans said. "They realize how important this facility is - not just to FYHA, but to everyone else."
In the meantime, Evans said Flagstaff hockey programs high and low will trudge along, finding any open sheet they can be it in Prescott or the Phoenix Valley.
"We can't just stop playing," he said. "Nobody would accept that."
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