Sunday's fire at the Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice Rink leaves many leagues and recreational skaters looking for some ice time.

03:06 PM EST on Tuesday, January 10, 2006

BY BENJAMIN N. GEDAN
Journal Staff Writer

The fire that heavily damaged the Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice Rink on Sunday has left high school hockey schedules in disarray and sent administrators of youth and adult hockey leagues scrambling to find available space.

Ice, it turns out, is some of the most sought after real estate in Rhode Island.

"If you know a hockey prayer, say it for us," said Richard Magarian, assistant executive director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, which runs all high school hockey. "We're in a little bit of trouble here."

Forty high school hockey games are scheduled at the Cranston rink next month, where teams compete every Friday and Saturday night. The home ice for Cranston High School East and Cranston High School West, the rink is also used for some home games by Barrington High School, said Michael Traficante, Cranston School Department's athletic director.

The fire could force the interscholastic league to lengthen its 18-game hockey season, delaying the playoffs that are scheduled to start March 10. Managers from the nine rinks used by the league are meeting tomorrow; if displaced teams cannot be accommodated, the league might be forced to hold triple-headers, with the third game ending after 1 a.m.

With recreation leagues suddenly scurrying to scoop up ice time, Magarian said the league might also consider canceling games. "There's simply no ice available," Traficante said. "There's just so many schools playing hockey with so few rinks."

In addition to high school hockey, the fire displaced the Cranston Figure Skating Association, Rhode Island Firefighters Hockey League, Cranston Veterans Hockey League and at least three youth leagues. One of them, Edgewood Youth Hockey, has already cancelled a game and three practices.

The fire broke out around 2:15 a.m. Sunday inside the cavernous facility on Phenix Avenue, fire officials said. Investigators have not issued a final report on the fire, but yesterday the interim fire chief in Cranston, James Gumbley, said an overheated ceiling light fixture likely ignited insulation material, sparking the blaze.

Mayor Stephen P. Laffey has said the fire was unrelated to electrical problems discovered in 2003, when a city inspector found live wires and problems with lighting and circuit breakers.

Sunday's fire removed paint from walls and caused extensive smoke damage throughout the 29,792 square-foot, one-story building. It melted the plexiglass that encloses the ice, damaged large ventilation fans, singed the scoreboard, charred the wooden arches that support the roof and damaged ceiling insulation, Gumbley said.

Yesterday, an engineer inspected ceiling beams for structural damage, as a cleaning crew removed puddles of water and remaining ice. The facility's Web site, www.cvmir.com, offered no prognosis yesterday about the rink's future. "Due to a devastating fire, the ice rink is closed," it says.

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

Workers remove ice that remains at the Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice Rink yesterday. A Sunday morning fire heavily damaged the facility and disrupted many adult and youth hockey leagues.

Glen Danischewski, vice president of operations for Virginia-based Rink Management Services Corp., which has operated the rink for the city since last May, also offered no timeline for repairs. "We're trying to get reopened," he said yesterday, after driving from the New York office on Sunday to inspect the facility.

City officials promise speedy reconstruction work, while emphasizing they will not compromise the safety of players and spectators. The rink includes 1,200-seat bleachers, and high school games often draw large crowds.

There is some reason for optimism. The four locker rooms and the equipment shop appear to have survived the blaze, Robin Muksian-Schutt, Laffey's deputy director of administration, said yesterday. And since the building was insured, she said, repairs will proceed and the fire will not derail plans to expand the rink.

"There's a lot of major cleanup," Muksian-Schutt said. "We will replace anything that is remotely unsafe."

That news, however, provides little solace to the hundreds of hockey devotees without a place to drop their pucks. Rinks around Rhode Island are crowded virtually around the clock, with hockey practices regularly starting at 5 a.m. and games lasting past midnight.

The Moses Brown School and La Salle Academy rely on the Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice Rink, Traficante said, and Cranston high school students practice there four days a week. Last October, a couple reserved the ice for their wedding ceremony.

School officials in Burrillville and North Smithfield have invited Cranston hockey players to join their teams for practice free of charge -- an attractive offer for the School Department, which has no money in its budget to buy ice time at a public rink, at the Dunkin' Donuts Center or at Brown University, Traficante said. Renting out an ice rink costs about $165 an hour.

The interscholastic league might find itself in financial trouble, too. Moving Cranston games out of the city could lower attendance, particularly among young fans who do not drive. And if league officials opt to hold games on weekdays, fans might be less inclined to cheer into the night.

"This is not an easy task at all," said Magarian, of the interscholastic league. "There's a shortage of rinks."

bgedan@projo.com / (401) 277-8072

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