The JrT was scheduled for a Monday night game at home, in the morning I got word that the game was postponed. That news effectively ended the day, with nothing else happening it gives me a moment to speak on the subject of Reservoir Park. The game of street hockey became popular in our area in the early 1970s, in 1974 the city's recreation commission sanctioned an organized league that played on basketball courts at two different city parks. In the fall of 1979 the commission oversaw the construction of a rink specific to the sport at Reservoir Park, at that time I was hired as the league's supervisor of operations. I had been involved previously as a player but my own playing career was very brief and very unspectacular, I realized early on that I simply didn't have the ability to be successful in that regard. From there I refereed for a season or two and later spent time helping out with a team called Chestnut Street, as an assistant on the bench I kept stats and called out line changes. The beginning at Reservoir Park was bumpy at times as I gained experience and learned what needed to be done to keep things running smoothly and in an organized manner. In 2000 Lancaster Dek Hockey Incorporated was formed and took over operations of the league and the rink, I stayed on as supervisor and the league continued seamlessly. In forty-two years we've had our share of mischief and vandalism, in the early seasons with the macadam surface the big problem was broken bottles. It came to the point where we would not play on October 30 or 31 because we were essentially a siting target for every egg, rock and bottle-thrower in the neighborhood (and don't even bother calling the police, there aren't enough cops in the city to handle everything that happens on Halloween). We could tolerate the mischief and the vandals to a degree but in recent years it got increasingly worse. We played our fall season in 2019 and didn't play again until the fall of 2021 thanks to the virus BS, during the hiatus the rink was badly vandalized. We made the repairs (substantial as they were) and played the fall '21 season, when we were done in November the rink was broken into again within a week. During the winter the damage continued, there is supposed to be a neighborhood group around there that watches for stuff like this but strangely they never seem to see anything. In April we met at the rink and surveyed the damage, it was decided that we can no longer play there because it simply isn't worth the trouble. The city was informed and the league was served notice that the rink will be demolished later this summer, we must be out by June 19. The dek surface was removed over the weekend, the process was finished on Sunday after the games in Rothsville. All that remains is the trailer we used as an office and the scoreboard, Don wants to get those out and from there the city will level it to the ground. The League Itself is not dead, there are options for a new home on the table and one way or another We'll Be Back. In the meantime I'll miss it as I did when we were down during The BS but I will never miss Reservoir Park at all, that place had a brand of BS all its own and anywhere we go will be Hockey Heaven by comparison. Take care, thanks for reading.
