The City of Watertown officially opened the Prairie Lakes Ice Arena while also welcoming a new amateur hockey team.
The newly constructed two-story arena offers athletic training rooms, suites, refreshments, and more.
It is also home to the Watertown Shamrocks, a minor league hockey team.
Ryan Gingher is the captain of the Shamrocks. He said the goal of his team is player development.
“The Watertown Shamrocks is a junior hockey team. Our age range is from 17 to 20, and most of us have graduated high school and we’re all looking to develop and to play D1 hockey,” said Gingher.
Gingher said he is glad the ice arena was built and that it offers youth a chance to play hockey at a competitive level before college.
“It’s hard to say everything, but, I mean, our locker room is obviously amazing, I don’t think that there is a nicer locker room in the league, or rink set up. We really have it all which is awesome, like the city, the people, everything is amazing,” said Gingher.
Local residents say they share Gingher’s sentiments, as some have even watched the project grow from an idea to finished product.
Ann Laurier is a lifelong resident of Watertown. She said she has watched the project with anticipation.
Through everybody’s efforts, and fundraising, and contributions, the community poured themselves in it. There are people that skated hockey here, but they live somewhere else, and they contributed here. It’s something that has been community-wide - and past graduates, past hockey players - that have poured themselves into it,” said Laurier.
Laurier said the new ice arena offers the youth in the area an opportunity to continue to work on their hockey skills while also maintaining a space for skaters who enjoy just being on the ice.
