Brick's Ocean Ice Palace 'Not For Sale,' Owner Says

BRICK, NJ — Ocean Ice Palace, where Brick Township hockey players and ice skaters have practiced and performed for nearly 60 years, is not for sale.

"The ice rink is not for sale," Andrew Barten said emphatically by phone on Wednesday afternoon. Rumors to the contrary "are not true," he said.

Barten and his wife, Raven, manage the rink on Chambers Bridge Road that was built in 1962 by Dr. Leon J. Dwulet. Dwulet's daughter still owns the rink; Raven is her daughter, and is Dwulet's granddaughter.

According to records filed in the Ocean County clerk's office, Dwulet transferred the deed on the property from the names of himself and his wife, Helene, to Ocean Ice Palace Inc., in 1983. The property has remained in the ownership of Ocean Ice Palace Inc. ever since.

Ocean Ice Palace has been home to Brick Township's youth and high school hockey teams for most of the years since it opened in 1962. It has seen a number of its players go on to the college ranks and some go to the pros, most notably Jim Dowd, who had a 17-year NHL career and won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils, and brothers James and Trevor van Riemsdyk, who played their youth hockey with Brick Hockey Club but high school hockey at Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown. James van Riemsdyk is with the Philadelphia Flyers and Trevor van Riemsdyk plays for the Carolina Hurricanes; he won the Stanley Cup as a rookie with the Chicago Blackhawks.

The two Brick Township high school teams now hold their practices and games at the Howell Ice Arena, a move the teams made for the 2017-18 season because the Howell arena offered a lower price for ice time.

It appears the Brick Hockey Club may be leaving the Ice Palace as well. A posting on the Brick Hockey Club's Facebook page from a member of the club's executive board indicated a change in location may be in the works and said that information would be distributed to the club's families this week.

The posting on the Growin' Up in Brick NJ Facebook page that said the ice rink had been sold accused the owners of kicking the club out of Ocean Ice Palace. Barten declined to comment on the matter, as did officers for the Brick Hockey Club.

Brick Hockey Club is marking its 50th anniversary this year, according to its website.

Aside from the hockey club, Ocean Ice Palace offers programs for beginning ice skaters and hockey players, open hockey hours for all ages, public skating and birthday parties. They also offer bumper cars on the ice, an activity that has been gaining in popularity.

Ocean Hockey Supply, which the family also operates, is housed at the rink as well.

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