MORGANTOWN, W.Va. The Morgantown Hockey Association (MHA) continues their search for a permanent home, and some of their plans could come into greater focus after the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners (BOPARC) holds their regular meeting Wednesday. BOPARC renovation plans would have closed the facility for an entire season, forcing the league to possibly move out of Morgantown to continue playing, but those future plans will be discussed at the Wednesday meeting.
Since then, the Morgantown Hockey Association and President Frank Oliverio have been in talks with the staff of Mylan Park for a potential new home there. Oliverio said those meetings have been very productive, and officials from BOPARC and the city of Morgantown have participated.
“Nothing is certain; we’re still in the due diligence phase and trying to figure out the logistics and financials of it,” Oliverio said.
The Morgantown Ice Arena is currently closed, as it is every summer, for the skating season. But now that construction plans are being reevaluated, Oliverio believes the facility could be available for their season of play, which typically runs from mid-August through mid-March.
Our opinion is that now that major construction isn’t occurring, open up the rink at the same time that you’ve opened up the rink every year in the past,” Oliverio said.
During baseball season, the facility is repurposed as an indoor training facility. Oliverio said he believes that practice is continuing this year, so he would expect a typical transition from baseball season to hockey season.
“It’s not an unsafe environment; kids are going in and out of there on a daily basis,” Oliverio said. “Just like in years past, pull up the astroturf, put the water down, freeze it, and let’s play hockey.”
While construction plans have been halted for now, Oliverio said there are funds to make minor repairs to get the facility prepared for the MHA season. He said, depending on the result of the Wednesday meeting, repairs, if needed, could be made between May and the mid-August start of the MHA season.
“There’s still some levy money out there that they’re using, from what I understand, to make sure that facility is usable for this coming year, and that’s huge for us,” Oliverio said.
The BOPARC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, at 3 p.m. in the Marilla Center.