Community of hockey players in search of a new place to compete
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POCATELLO — The local roller hockey league is searching for a new venue to continue competing after the property owners chose not to renew their lease for the building they’ve been using.
Marty Rosa-Habenicht and Al Habenicht are wife and husband and the co-owners of H&R Inline Hockey. For around eighteen years they’ve operated in a warehouse at 363 Pole Line Road.
At the beginning of July, Titan Center, the owners of the property, informed Marty and Al over a phone call that their lease wouldn’t be renewed. H&R now only has until the end of August to continue competing in the warehouse.
And hockey isn’t the only sport that competes there. The building was home to several soccer clubs and a roller derby league.
“We just were numb for a long time,” Marty said. “Because we’ve been at this for so long. Some of these kids … have been with us for years.”
Titan Center has not responded to a request for comment from EastIdahoNews.com.
Marty said some people have been playing hockey in their league for thirty years, and some families have their third generation playing in H&R.
Two people who have been playing hockey in H&R for over 25 years are Ryan Bennet and Spencer Schieman.
Bennet has been competing since he was six years old and Schieman since he was either nine or ten years old. This was back before the league competed in the warehouse.
Before Schieman played hockey, he was playing basketball. He didn’t hate the sport, but then he tried playing hockey for the first time.
“This is the one,” a young Schieman thought.
Bennet acknowledged that many people who live in this region probably associate hockey with Canada or Minnesota, “but I think that hockey is a world-renowned sport and it’s not as well known as say, football and baseball and basketball, but the competitiveness is there.”
Both Bennet and Schieman agreed that the league has a strong community of players, friends and family that brings in people from many different walks of life.
Bill Stout has been playing hockey for about ten years now and started playing when his son did. They had tried many different sports before that, “and this is the one that stuck.”
Stout’s son, now 20, plays in the A-league and Stout plays in the B-league. For Stout, he doesn’t love the sport of hockey as much as he loves staying active and watching his son excel.
“He’s competitive. He plays at a high level. He’s got skills and stamina and muscles and he likes playing with the big dogs,” Stout said. “For me, it’s one afternoon a week of exercise and good fun in a beer-type league with other people that got to work the next day.”
Melanie Durfee has been playing hockey for about five years now and her husband, Rhett Durfee, has been playing for 20 years. The Durfees are a hockey family, with their children and their grandchildren also competing.
Melanie said that over the years, they’ve gained a lot of memories playing hockey in that warehouse.
“We’ve made a lot of friends over the years that they’re more like family now,” Melanie said.
Originally, the league began by competing at Deleta, but they grew out of that space. Then, they moved to a building called Planet Skate for about three years before Lowe’s bought the property and constructed their building. This led the league to move into the warehouse in 2005.
As they’ve had to move the league twice before, Marty is confident they’ll be able to find a building that suits their needs.
“We are determined,” Marty said.
Bennet said when he heard the news, he didn’t feel like it’s over, but thought, “what’s next?”
“How do we figure something else out?” Bennet said. “What’s the next step to finding a new place?”
So far, H&R doesn’t know where they’re going to move the league, but many people have offered their help and support in looking for somewhere new.
“Several of us have stepped up to try to help them find a new place and hopefully continue the program ,because it’s important to to all of us,” Melanie said.
If there are any property owners who think they have a building that could work for the league, they can reach out to them on their Facebook page.
For a space to work as a hockey rink, it would have to be a open space with no columns or obstructions. The most ideal width and length would be 80 feet by 180 feet, but it would need to be at least 65 feet by 170 feet.
While there will likely be downtime in between August and when they find a new building to move the league to, Marty knows they’ll be able to find somewhere.
“We’re gonna find someplace to skate,” Marty said.