By Jill Nagy<\/p>\n
Here is something to sustain you during these hot, humid days: the ice goes in on August 6 at the Lake George Forum. The arena will be home to a Northern States Junior A Hockey League team, the Adirondack Fighting Spirit. In addition, there is a full schedule of recreational skating, instruction, “Rock’n’Skate,” skating clinics, youth hockey, skate rentals and sales, and ice shows, culminating, in mid-March, with the Northern States Junior A Hockey League championships.
\nRock’n’Skate, a new activity in the area, is aimed at pre-teens. It will feature flashing lights, “pumping” music, and prizes. Opening night is August 10, from 7 to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
If ice isn’t your thing, the Forum also offers a sports lounge with a view of the arena, comedy nights every Saturday, a cafe serving $5 breakfasts (with fifty-cent coffee if you provide information to the management), performances by a Pop Idol Tribute group from Toronto doing take-offs on the likes of Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, facilities for children’s birthday parties, and places to shop for gifts, skating equipment and team souvenirs. Overseeing this ambitious program are new managers Lisa and Rod Simmons. Lisa, a former skating coach with several National Hockey League teams, will conduct clinics and private skating lessons. Rod, a hockey coach for 25 years, will be the head coach of the Fighting Spirit and also conduct hockey camps and skills clinics. Previously, he coached NCAA college teams and junior teams in Canada, as well as prep school hockey in Lake Placid. The couple took over management of the facility in April.<\/p>\n
The Forum is owned by Ralph and Rosalie Macchio who, according to Lisa Simmons, are “very active and supportive.”<\/p>\n
The hockey team is new to the league. In fact, the Simmonses are still recruiting players. When the roster is complete, there will be 25 players, ages 18 to 20. Typically, promising hockey players join such a team for a couple of years before going on to an NCAA college team. It is a strictly amateur team; the players pay to join. So far, there are three local players and others from elsewhere in the United States, Canada, and Belgium. The three coaches, including Rod Simmons, will be paid and will also help run the Forum.<\/p>\n
Rod Simmons was born in Covington, New York, near the Canadian border. Lisa is from southwest Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley. Both have divided their prior professional careers between the two countries and are drawing on that background as they set things up at the Lake George Forum. “We are trying to expand all the time,” Lisa summed up.<\/p>\n
The Lake George Forum is on Route 9, just off Exit 21, south of Lake George Village. Detailed information, including a map, is available on their website, www.lakegeorgeforum.net. The telephone number is (518) 668-2200.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jill Nagy Here is something to sustain you during these hot, humid days: the ice goes in on August 6 at the Lake George Forum. The arena will be home to a Northern States Junior A Hockey League team,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n