Blueshirts Alumni to Face Off Against City Officials

The Long Beach Ice Arena will reopen in grand fashion next week after the facility sustained four feet of flooding and heavy damages during Hurricane Sandy nearly 11 months ago.

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New York Rangers alumni and city officials will participate in a special exhibition hockey game, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 28, a celebratory event to be preceded by a ribbon cutting, family skating session and free hockey clinic starting at 3 p.m., according to NHL.com.  

Earlier this year the Rangers and Chase bank joined together in a program to assist youth hockey, the first gesture of which was a $25,000 donation to refurbish ice rinks in Long Beach and Playland Ice Casino in Rye, which was also damaged during Sandy. The Rangers held practices at the Long Beach arena during the 1970s, after which they practiced in Rye from 1979 to 2002.

“This new program further expands the Rangers longstanding commitment to providing youth and adults with a variety of opportunities through camps, clinics and special events to have fun, learn the game of hockey and hone their skills,” Howard Jacobs, MSG Sports executive vice president of marketing and sales, said in a statement in February.

Long Beach used the f$25,000 to help pay for a new refrigeration system, Zamboni, rubber flooring, sheetrock and electrical repairs at the 32,500-square-foot, 800-seat city-run arena that abuts Reynolds Channel.

After Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency set up a recovery center at the arena, which also served as a distribution center of everything from food to clothing to household items for the storm-ravaged community.

Tickets for the exhibition game are on sale at the Recreation Center, 600 Magnolia Blvd., for $15. All the proceeds will go to City of Long Beach Relief.