Frozen Ponds of Dreams

Build it and they will come...












and play for the Canadian National Pond Hockey Championships and a chance to be honored at the Hockey Hall of Fame. How cool is that?

There will be few rules, no goalies and no on-ice officials. 120 men's and women's teams will face intense competition and cold in Ontario's north for a chance to have their names engraved on championship trophies hand-carved out of Canadian maple. The Championship Cups will be on display at the Hockey
Hall of Fame after the event.

..."It's the purest form of hockey," Lumsden said. "You learn to work the puck, control it, use you feet and go like hell.
The format will be similar to the world pond hockey tournament started in 2002 by Danny Braun in Plaster Rock. The New Brunswick event has four skaters a side, no raising the puck, no goalies, and nets that are six feet wide and only 10 inches high. The natural rinks are about two-thirds the size of regulation hockey arenas.
For the Canadian championships there will be no bodychecking, no boards and only snowbanks to keep the puck in play."

The Pond Hockey Tournaments held in Plaster Rock, NB since 2002 have been hugely successful and hopefully this Canadian Championship will be also. This is Hockey played in one of it's most elemental and beautiful forms, check it out if you have the chance and be thoroughly entertained.
More info >>> here.