It's the home of hockey clubs and figure skaters. The only permanent ice rink in Fresno but it could be melting soon.
Kris Rice with the Fresno Jr Hockey Club said, "the worst thing that can happen is if the rink closes, it's going to be extremely hard to open a brand new one."
The Gateway Ice Center is scheduled to close May 1st. Rice says it'll end hockey in Fresno and take away a place kids like Jake Doerksen call home, "it would be very depressing, it would probably take away the best thing I like to do."
Joshua Aroujo says it would be sad to see it go. He just started playing hockey a year ago and isn't ready to stop, "I just made friends and I don't want to lose them."
The nearest rink is 2 hours away, a long way to drive for a one hour practice. Joshua's dad Aaron says it's just not feasible, "if my wife and i knew about it earlier, we would have thought twice before putting him in"
The closure wouldn't just affect kids. It would end the adult league and the figure skating club. It would also hurt The Fresno Monsters, "they would lose their practice facility, whether they would continue to exist or not, I don't know," Rice added.
As for why it's scheduled to close, Rice says he isn't really sure. He's just hoping for my time to find a way to keep it open.
TXT 24
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