BALTIMORE — The days may be dwindling for a Patterson Park ice rink that has served the community for four decades, but a hockey team which calls it home is still fighting to preserve it.
Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center is slated to close at the end of the skating season. Next Saturday, March 14, may be among the last times the Baltimore Banners ice hockey team plays at the arena.
Matt Leone, a coach for the Baltimore Banners and board chair for The Tender Bridge, is hoping the puck doesn't bounce that way.
"I used the word numb quite a few times back then and we're still there," Leone said, recalling the moment he learned late last year that the arena was marked to close.
RELATED: Baltimore City plans to permanently shutter Patterson Park ice rink
The Baltimore Banners aim to bring hockey to students in nearby neighborhoods like McElderry Park and Elwood Park at no cost.
"The gear is free for the participants, the ice time is free for the participants. We transport all of the participants to and from every practice and game," Leone said.
Baltimore City Recreation and Parks plans to close the rink. In a city memo at the end of last year, the department cited long-standing structural problems at the facility.
"Mimi DiPietro has served the community for 39 years, but long-standing structural issues — including foundation concerns, dome integrity, and soil movement — were identified as far back as the 1998 Patterson Park Master Plan," the memo said.
While Mount Pleasant Arena, about 25 minutes away, remains an alternative, Leone doesn't want the horn to sound on this arena. He is still engaging leaders in the Baltimore City Council and State Senate, and he believes there could be a fix.
"Obviously, the Banners in our programming is hyper-dependent on the rink being there November, December 2026. So we've got one track going that way, where we have contractors ready, we potentially have private funders ready to facilitate some repair that keeps this rink open another 5, another 10 years. Then, we'd hope to leverage that 5-to-10-year runway to build something more long-term," Leone said.
On March 14, the Banners are hosting a fundraising showcase they are calling the "Rink Rally." If it's their last hurrah, the team plans to smile to the last second.
"When you see them and hear their stories, but then you see the smiles on their face when they get on the ice, it is life-changing," Leone said.
