Washington Capitals Visit Local Rink; Donate Equipment

A group of former Washington Capitals, including Peter Bondra, Sylvain Cote, Alan Hangsleben, Gord Lane and Gary Rissling, led a free ice hockey clinic at the Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park for Baltimore Youth Hockey’s Patterson Park Stars on Wednesday.

The Stars also received 150 playing jerseys, 40 helmets, and 40 bags of equipment (elbow pads, shoulder pads, pants, shin guards) worth over $5,000.

“Maybe one of these kids could play in the NHL one day,” said Bondra a 17-year NHL veteran, now retired. “We want to be involved in the community we want to go out and help the kids. A program like this is great where the kids skate free and now they have new equipment. Most of these kids will probably want to sleep in their pads tonight.”

Founded 13-years by Ed Donnellen, Middle River-native Mallory Richards began running the program 5-years ago.

“The Stars program is a 15-week ice hockey camp for boys and girls,” said Richards. “We get kids from all over: Dundalk, O’Donnell Heights, downtown, all over. The kids pay nothing to participate. This donation from the Capitals means 40 kids will be able to play hockey safely.

"Being just about five miles down Eastern Avenue from Dundalk, the Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center is the closest ice rink to Dundalk,” Richards continued. “It’s really the only rink on this side of town. Many Dundalk families take advantage of our public skating sessions as well as our party packages."

Richards, whose son Alex Richard is currently a Marine Reservist with the 4th Combat Engineering Battalion located in Baltimore, learned of the program when Alex served his high school community service hours with the Stars. She began teaching skating when she was 17 at the Northwest ice rink and has been teaching or coaching skating ever since.

Alex, a stellar defensemen for the Calvert Hall Cardinals, grew up playing in the Baltimore Youth Hockey program.

Richard supports the team by writing grants and with donations from the Howard Huskies, McDonald’s, and The Thomas Wilson Sanitarium for Children of Baltimore City, among other generous individuals and corporations.

“Our goal is to grow the sport of hockey, and the most effective way is to make it accessible to everyone,” said Peter Robinson, the Capitals coordinator of amateur hockey and fan development. “Programs like the one here in Baltimore are vital to the expansion of hockey in our community and provide kids with new opportunities to try a sport that they may not come in to contact with that often. This equipment donation will help keep the program going for years to come.”

The clinic and donation was a part of the Capitals, and the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone Month. The Hockey is for Everyone initiative provides support to developmental ice hockey and street hockey programs as a positive and meaningful outlet for children and young teens to learn, compete and grow.

“The Patterson Park Stars program is being recognized as a stable, positive, fun, learning environment for kids who would otherwise not be given or allowed the opportunity to learn to skate and play the game of ice hockey due to demographics, family dynamics and economic hardship,” said Richards. “This program provides an outlet away from the streets and also gets the kids involved in a team effort and exercising.”

The NHL initiative provides access to unique hockey experiences to more than 300,000 children annually in more than 30 nonprofit youth ice hockey organizations and 1,600 schools and community centers across North American as part of the NHL Street grass roots program.

“As we continue to face budget deficits that threaten the expansion of recreational activities for our most vulnerable young people, I am extremely pleased to be able to join with the Washington Capitals in a partnership that will benefit our city’s youth for years to come,” Baltimore City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young said.