Jul. 19, 2023 By Anthony Medina
At the last Community Board 5 meeting for the summer, the Middle Village Players Roller Hockey League officially announced its start date of September, but the league’s success so far in gathering players and volunteers can be seen well before the start of the season.
“We just want to thank the community for getting behind us because it’s really been a big effort to really bring more good energy to the park. We’ve been working really hard on fixing it up and getting the kids involved, getting the families involved, and the turnouts have been tremendous,” said MVP Roller Hockey League President Paul (Pogo) Pogozelski, during the board meeting.
The roller hockey rink located inside Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village was cleaned and pressure washed, thanks to the efforts of Coach Pogo, his family and local volunteers. The only other big change Pogozelski could ever think of was bringing a scoreboard to the James Bohan Hockey Rink.
Middle Village Roller Hockey League just accepted a massive upgrade to their home rink of the James Bohan Roller Rink thanks to the town of valley stream and help from volunteers, Mike, Anthony, Marcin, Eugene, Lenny, Joe, and Pat.Photo courtesy Paul Pogozelski
On Saturday, July 16, the league received a massive scoreboard, which was donated by Bill Hartig, the president of Inc. Village of Valley Stream NY. Pogozelski said the scoreboard was located on a parking area besides the LIRR where hockey rink resided for the Valley Stream Roller Hockey Rink.
Pogozelski also said the Melto Metal Products Company donated their time and to then lift and carry the scoreboard to the league’s shed in Juniper Valley Park. The town of Valley Stream was given an undisclosed donation in return for its donation to the league.
Melto Metal Products Company donated its time and materials to help transfer the scoreboard.Photo courtesy Paul Pogozelski
The league is expected to have the scoreboard up and running at their home hockey rink before the season begins.
Anyone interested in learning more about the hockey league should email MiddleVillageRoller@hotmail.com and follow the Middle Village Roller Hockey League on Facebook.