In place since 2000, the rink had been used just about every day of the week for both youth and adult league play. With around 1,800 registered members, they’ll now have to make the three-hour round trip to Greenville, SC through the spring just to play the sport they love.
“After the hurricane, me and my mom drove around Asheville. Just seeing the devastation, it didn’t feel real. I just remember being so sad,” 16-year-old Gibby Curwen, a youth player in the league said. “When my dad told me that the rink was destroyed, I didn’t believe him at first, because that’s my childhood. I grew up with my friends being there. I learned how to play hockey and I learned how to skate there. When I finally saw the rink, just completely destroyed with inches of mud on it, it was just heartbreaking. I couldn’t even think.”
With hopes of having a rink back up and running within a year, the efforts will begin by finding out if the existing rink is salvageable. Including a playing surface completely covered in several inches of mud, the league, in conjunction with insurance adjusters, engineers, the city, and all other necessary parties, will have to determine whether it’s best to rebuild what many have enjoyed at Carrier Park, or start anew.
“The scoreboard is 25 feet tall… there was part of a camper lodged on top of the scoreboard. The flyover bridge is about 18 feet… there was a boat up on it and part of a camper as well. There was an 18-wheel truck leaning up against part of the rink. There were trees down. All of the dasher boards were laid down. It was unreal. Stuff you wouldn’t have thought,” the elder Curwen detailed of the damage.
