Last night we honored Stan Melton as one of the 2024 Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Stan has played a large part in bringing an ice park and the sport of hockey to both Springfield and Missouri State University. “I knew a collegiate hockey team would work great,” Stan said as he recounted his role, “we all got together and decided yes, we can do this. We had a head coach. We found 16 players that played hockey in St Louis in our first roster. We then converted six roller hockey players, roster at 23, and we were off and running. Then we could recruit. And the program just started growing really strongly ever since.” We thank Stan for his contributions to the Springfield community and for his efforts in growing the sport of hockey. The Ice Bears appreciate everything you have done. Congratulations to Stan on joining the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame!