New Hanover Hockey Dek Project

Pick Up Sticks Hockey is the Home of the New Hanover Hockey Dek Revitalization project. A plea to keep a hockey dek swiftly became a grassroots effort to reimagine and revitalize the space.

Perhaps the best place to start with this story is the amazingly happy ending! Which of course, knowing these girls, is really just another beautiful beginning!

Inspired by Young Hockey Girls, Flyers Charities Donates $200K to Rebuild Rink in New Hanover

This incredible video captured the moment Lilly and Natalie learned the Flyers Charities would be donating enough money to fully rebuild their rink!

We are grateful beyond words and still feel just as excited as the day we found out!

This has been such a magical journey as we’ve found ourselves surrounded by the BEST people and organizations.

By the way – Here’s a photo of the previous state of the rink from December 2022.

New Hanover Community Park Hockey Dek, off of Gail Drive in Gilbertsville

You may have seen Natalie Van Druff and Lilly Walter, two (then) 11-year-olds who LOVE hockey, as their story grew wings. They’ve been featured on Crossing Broad, the Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS 3 News, Fox 29 News, the Boyertown Area Expression, and on countless social media pages and groups.

Philadelphia Hockey Fan HQ
Check out all that LOVE!

Their story began when their local hockey rink was almost turned into pickleball courts! (Pickle players don’t worry – the area has lots of places to play pickleball, from churches to parks and beyond. This rink is one of the very few places within an hour drive where local kids can play hockey together for free.)

This grassroots effort to repair and improve the rink swiftly gained support of the local community as well as the New Hanover Township Board of Supervisors. And from there it grew, reaching hockey advocates and media outlets and incredible individuals and organizations who wanted to help the cause!

Things to Know about New Hanover:

  • At the New Hanover Township Board of Supervisors meeting on 3/7/24, the girls gained the greenlight to form partnerships with sponsors.
  • Raising $200,000 was a magical amount that would allow creation of a brand-new facility that features proper hockey boards and benches with a sport court / dek tile surface, and new nets. It’s beyond incredible that Flyers Charities joined in the inspiration to make this hockey dream come true!
  • Pick Up Sticks Hockey hosts frequent pick up games for women, kids, and coed groups to play at New Hanover’s state-of-the-art hockey dek, The Rink at Community Park.
  • Rink Sponsors – Please email the team at Pickupstickshockey@gmail.com.

Resources:

How this all started (Blog Post)

Media Mentions (From Crossing Broad to CBS 3 and beyond!)