Parents Take a Shot at Raising Funds to Build Hockey Rink

The sports scene at Studio City Park leans toward that of Canada--minus the ice.

Like their neighbors to the north, many children here eagerly learn to skate and play hockey--albeit on rollers, not blades--almost before they can walk.

Leagues for players as young as 5 hold regular games, drawing hordes of goal-scorers from all over the San Fernando Valley.

But park officials recently prohibited games in the parking lot, the park’s main hockey spot, saying they couldn’t afford to forfeit the spaces.

Now, as children make do by playing at other Valley sites, parents and players are raising funds for a roller hockey rink at the park.

“The other rinks in the area are really far away,” said Lea Engle, a parent who is helping to organize the fund-raising effort. “Plus, this is a park that we are all used to. It’s a tight-knit community where everybody knows everybody else. I’d rather have my kids in that kind of great atmosphere.”

The rink, modeled after a similar one in Calabasas, is budgeted at $101,000, Engle said. It will be an outdoor facility with a 10-foot fence and lights for night games.

Depending on the success of fund-raising effort, park officials hope the rink could become the cornerstone of a multipurpose facility, with basketball courts and a batting cage.

The Los Angeles City Council will have the final decision, but so far Engle says that council members and park officials have been supportive.

Nearly all funding is expected to come from private sources such as corporate or personal donations. Last weekend, a carwash netted $1,600.

“It’s going to happen as soon as we get a few more of the pieces together,” Engle said.