Roaming The Rinks

You never know what kind of news you will find on the internet.  A posting on a hockey forum about a week ago brought this story to my attention:  The Rostraver Ice Garden Arena roof has collapsed, virtually destroying the building, and with it goes a small piece of pro hockey history.

                                                                   

Before the formation of the ill-fated Mid-Atlantic Hockey League in 2007 I had never heard of the place, but I decided to catch a Mon Valley Thunder game here, and the arena is featured right here on Roaming The Rinks and was one of the first dozen arena reviews on my site  http://www.roamingtherinks.com/icegardenarena.htm.    I remember how cool I thought the all wooden ceiling and roof trusses were, and how the place had an old school feel to it similar to some older rinks in Canada. I also learned that the building housed the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp in the 1970's.  The MAHL itself ended up being a major dissapointment, but it allowed me the chance to see a game here, and I am certainly glad I did.  Thank God that everyone got out OK.