Schenectady County is expanding its ice hockey facility, now named after a longtime local police official.
The renovation to the Schenectady County Recreational Facility – to be renamed the Schenectady County Ray Wemple Memorial Rink — was funded in part through American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Democratic County Legislature chair Gary Hughes says it’s a great step toward giving the local hockey club needed space while honoring the man who first made the facility possible on what would have been Wemple’s 93rd birthday.
“We continue to renovate our recreational facility over here, we're adding 4000 square feet of space, four new locker rooms, and additional changing rooms, expanded restrooms, a new activity room,” Hughes said.
Matthew Wemple says his father wouldn’t believe himself worthy of the honor.
“This moment in time means that hockey and ice sports will continue to be a focal point for the community in Schenectady County and in the area, and that lots of kids are going to have an awesome opportunity to get on the ice,” Wemple said.
With construction now underway, the hope is the rink will be ready for the start of the next hockey season.
Legislature Majority Leader Richard Patierne, a Democrat from District 1, is chair of the Public Facilities, Transportation, and Infrastructure Committee. He says the project builds on existing efforts.
“With this renovation, we're not just upgrading a rink, we're creating a space where families can come together, where children can learn and grow, and where memories can be made and last a lifetime,” Patierne said.
Nathan Andersen is Board President for the Schenectady Youth Hockey Association. He says the additions are much appreciated.
“We host almost 30,000 participants outside of the youth hockey in the building, open figure skating, open skate, stick and puck, learn to skate, all the adult hockey programs that were mentioned. We host the two high school teams in the area, GMSVS Storm and the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Spartans now to actually be able to completely dress in one big locker room instead of splitting between locker rooms,” Andersen said.
GMSVS is the combined team for Guilderland-Mohonasen-Scotia-Glenville-Voorheesville-Schalmont.
Hughes agrees that the new space is overdue.
“They're a little cramped in there. If there's back-to-back games, the next team has to sit in their car and wait because there's no room for two teams to change. So there's always a little delay. And they had a vision to expand the facility. And along came the ARPA funds and we had the wherewithal to do it,” Hughes said.
Hughes says Wemple is more than deserving of the honor.
“He was a military veteran, he was ahead of his time in the city police department, in terms of some of his community policing strategies. He had a lot to do with the countywide radio system. And we didn't even touch on that today. And he was a tremendous backer of youth hockey, and of this facility. And there's really nobody better suited to have a facility named after them,” Hughes said.
The younger Wemple agrees, recalling memories of when the current rink came to be.
“25 years ago, both- Schenectady youth hockey itself, the future was uncertain. And my dad was the vice president of the Association. Mr. Mike Caruso was the president. And at that same time, where we played, it was a facility called Center City, had been purchased by another organization, and it was being converted to indoor soccer,” Wemple said.
That meant more than 300 kids had nowhere to play.
“At that point, my father set out with some other incredible people to get us a new facility to play in and 25 years ago, this was built. I remember over the summer, helping him shop for Zambonis in brochures and calling around to other rinks as a 14-year-old. And I remember when they poured the first layer of ice on this sheet, what it meant to us hockey players and then, you know, the wider athletic community in the area,” Wemple said.
Wemple says having the rink there meant local hockey boomed.
“This also became our home rink as we formed our own high school team. As early high schoolers, there's some great families like the Boltons, the Basseys, the Wemples, the DiTessos, got together and said, ‘Why can't we have a high school team in Rotterdam?’ So between Mohonasen and Schalmont at the time, we created one and the team that is the current version of that team, the Storm, still call this ice sheet home,” Wemple said.
Wemple says, even though he hasn’t played hockey in years, when the new facility opens?
“You can, absolutely guaranteed, catch me here on skates,” Wemple said.
