Peconic Hockey Foundation

Riverhead Town and Peconic Hockey Foundation officials celebrated the groundbreaking for construction of a hockey rink facility at Veterans Memorial Park yesterday.

Plans for an indoor NHL-sized hockey rink at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton have hit a snag over whether the proposed agreement between Riverhead Town and the nonprofit Peconic Hockey Foundation runs afoul of state law.

When the Riverhead Town Board authorized a contract on Oct. 4 with the nonprofit Peconic Hockey Foundation to bring an ice rink to Veterans Memorial Park, town officials expressed excitement for the project and for the opportunity to continue developing the flagship park. 

The indoor ice rink will be donated to the town by Peconic Hockey Foundation, which will occupy, operated and manage the facility.

The Riverhead Town Board will likely move to table a resolution on today's agenda that would authorize an agreement with Peconic Hockey Foundation to bring an NHL-sized ice rink to Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton.

The hockey organization looking to site a NHL-sized covered ice rink in Riverhead will look to develop the rink in Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton — the site originally eyed by the group — instead of Stotzky Park, a location that drew opposition from town officials and residents.

The plan to bring a NHL-sized ice rink to Stotzky Park has been put on ice after Riverhead’s Recreation Advisory Committee yesterday unanimously recommended against building the arena on one of two soccer fields at the flagship park.