CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — Town of Cheektowaga officials gave the Holiday Twin ice rinks a "clean bill of health" and allowed the facility to re-open on Friday.
The rinks were shut down for more than a week following an incident on December 27, after which more than 100 patrons were treated at local hospitals for carbon monoxide exposure.
No one from the rink's management would make themselves available to speak with us when we visited on Friday. However, a letter issued by the Cheektowaga fire inspector indicates all deficiencies have been repaired and the building is safe again.
The last of town building inspectors completed their task at about 10 a.m. Friday, and the last of the contractors who had been working at the building for several days days straight packed up and left about an hour later.
Then the first of the skaters returned.
As they hit the ice, none of the hockey players from the Tuesday-Friday Lunch Shot League appeared worried about anything and happy to be back to the rinks where they've been skating for decades.
"Given the experts and the people that take care of this rink I feel confident that they did what they needed to do to clean things up," Kevin Cusick said as he prepared to join his fellow players on the ice.
Added fellow hockey player Kristie Hannon: "I don't think anybody does anything intentionally. I just think that sometimes things get missed and things happen."
Beyond the repairs needed to address the carbon monoxide problem, which included replacing a faulty lobby heater and all the rooftop vents, the rink — in a social media post — noted that it has also installed new furnaces in all the locker rooms and new carbon monoxide detectors throughout the building.