PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A much-anticipated renovation is coming to Montgomery County's beloved hockey deck. Two Best Friends and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Natalie Van Drough and Lily Walter have been fighting to prevent their New Hanover Township deck from being converted into a pickleball court, but they're up to the challenge after the township asked them to come up with a plan to convert the deck.
“We were really shocked. We thought, 'Oh my God, they're going to tear down the rink where we not only played hockey but also ran around on rollerblades,' but then we thought, 'No, we have to save this rink,'” Natalie said.
Unbeknownst to Natalie and Lily, the Flyers have been following their fight to save the rink.
“As soon as I got the newspaper article, I forwarded it to my charity team and my communications director and said, 'Guys, we've got to do something,'” said Blair Ristino, president of Flyers Charities.
The Flyers invited Natalie and Lily to their training center in Voorhees, New Jersey, where they met forward Garnet Hathaway and received a check for $200,000 to help renovate the rink.
“Me and Lily were like, 'Oh my God, this is real,'” Natalie said. “We were just so, so happy. Words can't describe the feelings we had.”
“It was a really cool experience,” Lilly said, including when Flyers mascot Gritty popped out from behind the wall.
And the two girls know exactly what's needed to fix up the rink: new hockey nets, penalty boxes, boards and tiles.
“It's so wonderful to see these little girls working so hard,” Ristino said.
Siafa Lewis
