Arlington Guns and Hoses Game: Police, Fire to Take the Ice Friday

ARLINGTON, MA—The Arlington Police and Fire Departments will strap on the pads and take the ice this Friday for the Arlington "Guns and Hoses" Charity Hockey Game.

The eighth edition of the game will take place at 7 p.m at Veteran’s Memorial Skating Rink at Ed Burns Arena in Arlington Friday. Event-goers will have the opportunity to meet ”Blades”, the mascot of the Boston Bruins as well as members of the Ice Girls Team. Admission is $5 with a family maximum of $20. Children under 10 enter for free.

The game benefits Autism Speaks, a leading autism science and advocacy group. While Arlington Fire Department Lt. Paul Houser has a special connection to the disorder, he told Arlington Patch that the issue seems to affect everyone.

“My nephew is autistic,” Houser told Arlington Patch.”I threw it out there and everyone seemed to either know someone or had a friend, family member affected by autism and it just kind of stuck.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 68 children is on the autism spectrum. According to the Commonwealth’s most recent population, that means that around 100,000 people have autism in the Commonwealth.