KENT COUNTY, Del. -- Several adult league hockey players are angered and disappointed after The Delaware State Fair notified teams and clubs Friday that the Centre Ice Rink in Harrington is closing.
One of those players is Chris Koch. Koch serves as the director of the Delmarva Warriors Hockey Program, which supports wounded veterans by giving them an outlet in the ice rink. Koch says that outlet has now slipped away.
"A rink does not make a lot of money, but what's it going to turn into?" Koch questions. "A concert hall? Storage? At what cost? We're fighting 22 veterans a day that are killing themselves, and we're out there in the community not only playing hockey, but we're working with Roots Across America, IW, and others, so if I can get one vet to play. He doesn't go South, that's worth everything. That's what's sad is the rink has no idea about that."
Longtime hockey player and referee Steve Cannons says he expects many other players to leave the sport.
"It really is tough because now we lose that brotherhood," says Cannon. "We lose that opportunity. I know a lot of guys that have already said to me, 'This is the last hoorah. I'm not going to play again because I'm not gonna travel to play.'"
Meanwhile, David Wilson recently welcomed his son to his adult hockey league team.
"I've been playing 23 years in the rink, and I watched my son grow up playing," says Wilson. "Now he's old enough to play with me in the men's league. The father-son bonding time, that's going to go away."
