City Ice Rink Gets Half-Million-Dollar Facelift
Members of the New Jersey Devils appear to help promote youth hockey in Newark
Newark has bred standouts in sports including boxing, baseball, track and field, basketball, football and soccer. A Brick City native has even made his mark in fencing, competing in several Olympics. But hockey? Given the city’s commitment to the sport in recent years, the possibility of a Newarker one day making it to the NHL could be more likely than it’s ever been. “There’s not a huge hockey following in urban areas in general. But once we get the kids out there, they try it and they fall in love,” said Dennis Ruppe, the co-director the nonprofit Hockey in Newark program. “Then it becomes word-of-mouth.” Ruppe, whose group promotes the sport among city youth, was one of hundreds of people at the Ironbound Recreation Center on Rome …
