Letter to the Editor: Lack Of Care Of Los Alamos Ice Rink

ARYN WARD
LAHS student
Topper hockey player

Los Alamos Ice Rink was built in 1936. The outdoor rink is one of our tiny town’s treasures. It offers skating lessons and people can go there to skate with family and friends for fun. It’s also home to the Los Alamos hockey team, ranging from the atoms hockey, full with young preschool- and kindergarten-aged kids, all the way up to the high school’s Varsity and JV teams.

I have been playing hockey here for the majority of my life, and so have many of my teammates. Compared to the teams that we play from other towns in New Mexico, our season is cut short due to the rink being outdoors. Recently, the lack of care for the rink has become increasingly obvious.

During games, the scoreboard doesn’t always work. The Zamboni is old, and is slowly not being able to perform its duty of resurfacing the ice, and the biggest problem: improper care of the cooling systems and pipes. Normally, the season can range from mid-November to late February, maybe even early March, but this year, the cooling system failures gave us a late start to the season and may be ending it early. 

A few years ago, the county graciously built us new locker rooms and remodeled the bathrooms and setup of the buildings. We were very thankful for this change, but many of us believe it’s time for the county to fix many of these other problems. The main problem is most of these things are getting old, which is why the county should take responsibility and replace them, or update them.

I propose a new Zamboni, working cooling pipes and systems, fixing the scoreboard and some sort of screening to protect the ice from the sun. With these, not only will the hockey season last longer, giving the teams the opportunity to grow and play, but it will also give families, students, and more the opportunity to go skating and have fun during the winter. People can admire the beauty that an outdoor rink has to offer for a longer time period with the proper care. 

With global warming getting worse, it’s important to put in effort to keep outdoor rinks running. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if my message falls on deaf ears, but hockey families and more are fed up with the people at the county not taking care of our rink. Elected county officials often claim that they want to make this town more fun for the kids and teens growing up here. This is one way that they can do just that. Hockey is very important to me and my teammates; without this rink, we wouldn’t have a team. 

This rink is also more than just hockey, it’s a great place for teens and families to have fun and enjoy each other’s company, and it’s a historical treasure. This rink has been around for generations, it’s older than our high school, and has provided entertainment. I want generations for years to come to enjoy the same fun that my peers, teammates, and I have experienced. We teens already have so little means of fun and entertainment in Los Alamos, the rink is something we still have, the county should be putting more effort into keeping it alive.

Respectfully,

Aryn Ward

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