Town Board authorizes agreement to bring ice hockey ‘bubble’ rink to EPCAL

The Riverhead Town Board on Tuesday authorized Supervisor Yvette Aguiar to execute an agreement with Peconic Hockey Foundation that will allow for the construction of an ice hockey rink at the Enterprise Park at Calverton. 

Peconic Hockey Foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks to bring ice hockey to the East End. It is based in Wading River.

The foundation originally sought to locate a rink at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton, before moving the proposed locational to Stotzky Park. Then, after some residents complained that the Stotzky Park location was still used for soccer, the plans shifted to EPCAL. 

“We’re very excited,” said Troy Albert of Wading River, the president of the foundation, following the Town Board vote. “I’m happy to be able to give this to the town. We’re looking forward to many years of working with the community.”

He said they’ve been trying to bring ice hockey to the East End since 2015.

Peconic Hockey plans to give ownership of the rink to the town as a “gift.”

The organization recently purchased a “bubble” ice rink from Cranston, R.I. that is being stored in Riverhead. Mr. Albert had previously said it cost them about $1 million to buy and transport the rink to Riverhead. 

The rink would be located east of the parking lot at EPCAL. The town plans to let Peconic Hockey manage the rink. The resolution authorizing the agreement states that “any agreement with Peconic Hockey Foundation shall be subject to and contingent upon receiving an opinion and/or determination from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation and/or the New York Attorney General relative to the appropriateness of Veterans Memorial Park for the siting of the ice rink.”