Explosion Rips Through Hockey Rink, Seriously Injures One

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) _ An explosion ripped through a neighborhood hockey rink in this northwestern Canadian city, critically injuring a rink attendant.

Fire officials said two teams of 10- and 11-year-old boys had just concluded a game Sunday at the Donnan Arena when the blast occurred, and two other teams were about to go on the ice.

There were about 100 people in the arena at the time of the explosion.

The blast, which caused $3 million in damage, buckled the arena’s walls and it will have to be torn down, fire investigators said.

They said the explosion was under investigation, and was being treated as accidental.

``It rattled everything, shook everything,″ said Daryl Nosko, whose son had just finished playing. ``We got the kids out, then I ran out on to the ice. That’s when I saw the attendant. His clothes were on fire.″

The 27-year-old victim, whose name was not released, had been about to drive an ice cleaner out of an attached parking garage and into the arena, said Randy Kilburn, a fire department spokesman.