LACONIA — With Labor Day holiday having come and gone, the fall and winter sports season opened up this week at Merrill Fay Arena, 468 Province Road.
And that means hockey. He shoots, he scores.
The period just after Labor Day up until April 1 is the busiest of the year at the Merrill Fay Arena, formerly the Laconia Ice Arena. With the renaming of the arena, a new era has begun.
The facility was renamed last spring for Merrill P. Fay, a well-known local booster and financial backer of hockey in the Lakes Region. Fay, best known as the owner of Fay's Boat Yard in Gilford, was instrumental in the building of the Laconia Ice Arena, which was completed in 1996. His son Will is the general manager of the facility, and has served in that capacity for many years.
Fay began to support youth hockey by building an ice rink behind Fay's Boat Yard on Lake Winnipesaukee. Later the rink moved inland to nearby Varney Point. Fay then purchased seven acres of land at the current site of the ice arena and paid for construction.
He has been actively involved in fundraising efforts to support youth hockey in the Lakes Region, and was instrumental in the development of the Lakes Region Youth Hockey Association. The teams that belong to the association are known as "Laker Nation."
An event honoring Fay at the ice arena took place earlier in the year and included former Boston Bruins players. The old Laconia Ice Arena signs have been taken down and replaced with Merrill Fay Arena signs. Fay served as the grand marshal at the Gilford Old Home Day parade which took place on Aug. 27.
Last Tuesday, public skating opened up for the season at the Merrill Fay Arena. The hours for public skating are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday from 10 to 11 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
The cost for public skating is $5 (all ages), and skates can be rent for $5 a pair. Skate sharpening at the arena's pro shop costs $5 a pair. Season passes are offered with the price listed as $100 for adults, $50 for children, and a family of four admitted for $175.
Will Fay says the arena and its operations are a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity. In addition to running the day-to-day operations of the arena, Fay is involved in ongoing fundraising, which includes selling advertising to be placed on the walls of the arena. For local youth teams and arena's two junior league teams, the facilities and ice surface are state-of-the-art with spectator seating of up to 800 people.
The arena also contains a gift, equipment, and pro apparel shop that includes skate repair service.
The main activity at the Merrill Fay Arena on Thursday was preparation for the coming season of two teams that make up the New England Wolves, a Junior "A" franchise in the Eastern Hockey League. The teams are divided into "premier" and "elite" squads.
Junior league teams feed players into college hockey programs. The "premier" team is an advanced, more experienced squad while the "elite " team contains less experienced players, who will eventually be promoted to the premier team.
Both teams consist of serious and dedicated hockey players who intend to enroll in college hockey programs. About 10 percent of "premier" players will join Division I college hockey teams while the rest will be part of Division II and III squads.
Players who are standouts in Division I have the best chance of being drafted by NHL teams and sent to minor league affiliates. Those who play in Division II and III usually do not go on to professional careers, but playing on a college hockey teams gives them an opportunity to earn a college degree, of which the benefits are obvious.
The New England Wolves' "premier" team is in its first year in Laconia, having been based in Waterville Valley for the previous two seasons. That team has fed 58 players into college hockey programs over the last several years. The head coach is Brett Tryder, who served as hockey coach at Plymouth State University for over 15 years.
Tryder has 25 players on his squad including three international players from Canada, Sweden, and Russia. The rest are from various locales in the U.S., with a few from New Hampshire. The players range in age from 16 to 20 years old, with most either 19 or 20 years old. All players are part of a tuition-based program, and all stay with local families and pay rent of $300 a month.
The New England Wolves' "premier" team plays against 16 other teams in two divisions, north and south. Most of the teams are based in New England, but one squad is located as far south as Philadelphia.
The 2016-2017 season for the New England "premier" Wolves begins at the Fay Arena on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. against the Boston Junior Rangers. Tickets go for $5. The next day, the Wolves will play the Boston Bandits at home in a 2:30 p.m. game. The "premier" Wolves will play a 50-game schedule this season running through the first week of March.
Meanwhile, the New England Wolves' "elite" team is also gearing up for the start of the season. The "elite" team coach is Andrew Trimble. The 22-player squad consists of athletes between the age of 16 and 19. Like the "premier" Wolves, the members of the "elite" team are also lodged at local homes and also pay tuition in order to take part in the junior league hockey program.
Trimble said his squad has three members from Moscow, Russia, and one of them speaks nearly fluent English while the other two are making strides in learning the language. One team member is from Quebec, two are from Alabama, one is from Arizona, and others come from other U.S. states. Only three members of his squad are from New Hampshire.
The "elite" Wolves will play a 42-game schedule not including playoff games. The season kicks off at the Fay Arena on Sunday, Sept. 25 with a 2:15 p.m. game against the Valley Junior Warriors of Haverhill, Mass. Like the "premier" Wolves, the regular season for the "elite" Wolves ends during the first week in March.
In addition to the "premier" and "elite" Wolves squads, there are also "midget" Wolves squads of younger high school players who play a limited schedule.
On Thursday afternoon all the members of the Wolves "elite" team were working out in a building across the road from the Fay Arena, and were instructed by Angela Pickowicz, owner and trainer of "Pick Fit Group and Personal Fitness Training." Pickowicz led the players in calisthenics and yoga exercises in the early afternoon, and then the squad hit the ice by 1:30 p.m. for practice.
The high school hockey season will get underway later in the fall with three squads using the Fay Arena for practices and games. They are combined teams featuring Laconia and Winnisquam High Schools, the Gilford-Belmont team, and the Moultonborough-Interlakes High School squads.
The Fay Arena also hosts all games played in the Lakes Region Youth Hockey Association, with various teams consisting of players between five and 15-years old. The LRYHA season will start in three weeks.
The facility also is home to the Central New Hampshire Figure Skating Academy. In addition to public skating times, the arena also will hold regular sessions later in the fall for freestyle figure skating, and stick and puck pick-up games for adults. A local adult hockey league is now being formed for another season of play. The first game is scheduled for Oct. 3., and the season will extend into March.
"Meltdown" events, consisting of skating with a light show and a live DJ music, have been scheduled for four Saturdays starting in late November and extending into January.
During the off-season from spring into summer, the ice at the arena's rink is melted and drained, and various events take place on the main floor including home shows, boat and auto shows, flea markets, even circus events. The arena can also be rented by the hour for private events including birthday parties.
For more information on services and prices, go the the Merrill Fay Arena website at www.laconiaicearena.com. The complete 2016-2017 season schedule for the New England Wolves' "premier" and "elite" teams is also listed on the website.
