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05/17/2023 04:25 PMThe re-opening of the Pasquale G. “Patsy” DiLungo Veterans Memorial Ice Rink has brought a sense of pride to the East Haven community and its ice hockey fans and players. That includes one of its maintainers, Tom Melillo, a lifelong hockey player and “rink rat” who was taken by the renovations of the same building in which he grew up playing the sport.
“I was amazed because I grew up playing hockey in here, and it had probably been four, five years since I had last been in here. The difference is just unbelievable,” Tom says. “It’s so much brighter; it’s clean; it’s a refreshed look. The total reconfiguration is now more open.”
Tom says the reception of the renovated ice rink from East Haven residents, including from parents of East Haven High School hockey players, has also been overwhelmingly positive.
“The feedback you get from people coming into the building is unreal. One of the first mornings I was working, I had family come in that hadn’t been in the building for three or four years…they were looking around everywhere, just taking it all in how different it is,” he says.
That difference has certainly greatly impacted the community overall as the rink has become a bevy of skating activities not just limited to ice-based recreation.
“Friday nights for public skating have been absolutely packed. We’ve had great results for public skating on Sundays, too. It’s something for kids to do that they haven’t had. So you get a whole new group of kids coming in that and even schools. We have a lot of local schools that come in [with] people who have never skated before,” says Tom.
Tom works at the ice rink five days a week with varying hours during the day, depending on the activity at the facility.
“It’s all event-driven, so it might be two hours here and then come back later. It can be all over the place.”
Typical responsibilities for Tom include making sure scheduled events happen on time, maintaining a clean and safe environment for facility users, and ensuring all operations are up and running.
“It’s really being customer service oriented because you’re interacting with the people who are renting the ice or any issues that might pop up during their games, or needs that they may request at the last minute that we’re not aware of and make sure they’re taken care of,” Tom says.
Maintaining a smooth ice rink is another major responsibility, which means he gets to use the facility’s “state-of-the-art” ice resurfacer called a “Mammoth,” an apt name for its size and capabilities that is different from the more commonly referred to “Zamboni.”
“A lot of people think it’s a Zamboni, but Zamboni is really a company. Ours is more state-of-the-art, actually. A lot of automation is on there, so we can set the exact depth that we want to cut the ice to. It’s unbelievable. People see it in little kids’ reactions, and just their faces light up. They think it’s a spaceship! It’s everybody’s bucket list: go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, and drive a Zamboni.”
But with spring in full swing and the hotter months of summer approaching, facility users will have to see goodbye to the ice until next autumn. Events will now shift away from ice-based sports like hockey and to activities like roller skating to mark its return to East Haven.
“Years ago, when I was a kid, you had Skateland East on Coe Avenue, and that was huge for everybody to go to on Friday and Saturdays. The mayor is big on having skating back here, and we’ve got our first round of skates that came in and have another round coming in at the end of the month. Hopefully, we’ll have an event to kick it off, and then in the summer, we’ll be having some public skating, roller-style this time.”
For those who are not well-adept to skating, Tom says skate-less street hockey games are another possible type of recreation the rink may host this summer, and there have been talks of basketball clinics being at the facility too. While other ideas floated around have not been put officially in place, “the ideas are out there” for what the summer may hold at the ice rink.
Whatever comes next at the rink, Tom sees that the renovations at the facility have made it more inviting to visitors. It’s cleaner, easier to navigate, more accessible for users, and is putting smiles on the faces of people in and outside of East Haven.
“It’s amazing to come into the place…you meet people [who are] brand new, seeing their kids skate—it brings you back to when you were a kid doing the same thing. When I first opened the doors to the rink and actually was looking out from the garage out onto the ice, I was just sitting there and smiling. And I couldn’t believe I was actually working the job. I love it,” Tom says. “It’s great to give back to the community and that they entrust the building and the operations that are going to be in your hands, and you’re going to be able to be responsible for and take care of it.”