My son just turned 7 and is playing Mites this year, and was standing in the runway with his team waiting for the Zamboni to come off when this happened...
Ice Garden Collapses
It was truely a miracle that nobody was injured/killed. His game was scheduled to start at 3:15, but was held up due to a medal ceremony from the game before and the Zamboni cleaning the ice, the roof came down around 3:25. I was standing by the boards talking to one of the grandparents from the team after the ceremony and heard a loud bang, I thought someone shot a puck off the boards in front of me, but realized it came from above on the wooden ceiling. The team moms walked down with some signs that they made for the kids to cheer for them coming out of the lockeroom, I told them to move down to the other end of the ice, that one of these beams might fall. Why I didn't think of the whole thing coming down and to warn everyone to leave I don't know, it still bothers me right now, but I never imagined that happening. The kids were in the lockerroom getting instructions from the coach so I decided to go to the restroom before the game started, and told my Dad what I heard while he was standing at the snack bar, the lady behind the counter said "it was doing it all day". I guess someone from the rink went on the other side of the ice and started telling everyone to get out, including the Zamboni driver right before it happened. I went to the restroom and came out, then I watched half the roof crash onto the ice, and I didn't know if the kids were out there yet and couldn't find my wife and daughter. I ran into the arena since the moms were still in there when it happened, and it was pure chaos. I told them to get the hell out of there before the rest of the roof collapsed, and everyone ran out of the building. I ran around back and seen all the hockey players standing out in the parking lot with the coaches and my family, and all were accounted for. When the roof came down, the kids were under a cement portion of the rink waiting for the Zamboni to come off, they were hit by some debris but all were safe. I feel like the luckiest guy on earth right now, and thank goodness those little ones weren't out there on the ice, it could have been a terrible tragedy. We played our games yesterday and took 3rd in the tourney, the kids wanted to get right back at it, and didn't fully understand what could have happened outy there (which is a good thing IMO). Hockey parents are a different breed, that is for sure, but I'm just glad everyone was safe and sound.