Mr. Raymond B. Reinl, a former Willow Grove resident and co-owner of the now-closed Wintersport Ice Sports Arena in Willow Grove and retired longtime attorney and civic leader, passed away on Monday, February 17 of respiratory failure at a nursing center in Bucks County. He was 96.

After serving two years in the Army National Guard, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history at La Salle and law degree at Penn in 1954. From there, Mr. Reinl handled mostly civil court cases as an attorney and practiced in Philadelphia, and Montgomery and Bucks Counties from 1955 until his retirement in 2013. He represented Upper Moreland Township and other clients in all kinds of civil cases, and was chair of the Upper Moreland Zoning Board in the 1960s, his obituary said. He also ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state representative and state senator.

He built and co-owned the Wintersport ice rink at 551 York Road in 1972, created the popular Royals youth hockey program at the rink on York Road, and became known by local insiders as the “grandfather of high school hockey.”

Mr. Reinl was also the former ice hockey coach at Archbishop Wood High School, his obituary said.

According to youthhockeyinfo.com, the rink was demolished in 2021 and home to the NHL’s first million-dollar hockey player Ray Staszak, and NHL Hall of Famer Mike Richter.

Below is a clip from the Council Rock Indians vs Father Judge Crusaders during a Christmas tournament in 1988:

Services for Mr. Reinl were held March 1.

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