Kinsmen Canadian Pond Hockey Championship a great success

The Kinsmen ice crew with Cary Marenguer on the hose helped by Bohdan Romanyk and Ian Pugh prepare fresh ice for the Sunday games after a day of play. In the background, fellow ice crew Bob Smith, Bob Edmunds, Clyde Boom are helped by other volunteers to clear the surface ahead of the hose. It took three weeks of hard work of preparing the five rinks.

The action was fast and furious at the Albion Hills Conservation Area in the first annual Kinsmen Canadian Pond Hockey Championship Feb. 17-18. The temperature was well below seasonal average and the wind across the lake made it brutally cold but the players worked up a sweat in the half-hour games of uninterrupted play with only a few minutes' break at half time.

The format of the tournament was four-on-four play with no goaltending and a net only 10 inches high with no goaltending allowed. With all open net play, goals were plentiful with more than 1,300 goals scored over the course of the weekend. There are no boards in pond hockey - no icing, off-sides or any other causes to stop play but the clock. With only snow banks containing the rinks, it was fairly common occurrence for pucks to leave the play area to be retrieved by volunteer puck chasers. The format took some getting used to but participants had a great time competing.

Brampton Vandals with captain Dan Gould, Joe Tulino, Cody Dawe, Brandon Dawe and JoJohn Attrd win gold medals and their names forever immortalized as the first-ever winners of the Caddy Cup, donated by the Cedar Hills auto dealership at the 2007 Kinsmen Canadian Pond Hockey Championship. Bolton's BFI's Gastanks with captain Ryan Wood, Brian Carrigan, Mike Renda, Jory Baker and Jon Defresters were awarded silver medals. The Bolton Beavers with Captain Steve Hutchins, Alex Nordheimer, Brian Landry and Justin Powers won the bronze.

In the end, a team from Brampton, the Vandals, won tournament gold and said they would be back next year to defend their title. Bolton teams BFI's Gastanks and the Bolton Beavers respectively won silver and bronze medals. Earlier in the tournament, the Vandals, Sharks and Bolton Bruisers received division winner medals from tournament sponsor Daryll MacArthur.

Kinsmen organizers were extremely pleased with the results. While they had some no-shows, they ended up fully prepared for the planned 24 teams and are gearing up to expand to 48 teams participating in the 2008 games.

"This was our first time at this. After last year's winter meltdown forcing us to cancel what was to be the first event, and then with open water for most of this January, we were anxious right up to the last minute," said tournament chairman Kinsmen George denHaan. "The Albion Hills Conservation Area turned out to be a terrific venue for the event and we were pleased with the support we received from the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) in allowing us to use the facility at no expense."

Tournament ice crew leader Kinsmen Bob Smith was equally pleased. "For open air pond ice, we ended up with four good sheets of ice and I'm confident we can get eight sheets for 2008," said Smith.

Ice thickness ended up at about 18 inches which was quite a change from just weeks earlier. Players were universal in their approval of the conditions and the venue, vowing to be back next year bringing more teams with them.

The Kindred Spirits Dragon Boat Racing Team, a group supported by Kinsmen, were well represented as volunteers to help monitor the games, clean ice between games and generally help Kinsmen manage the event. Several adult volunteers from the public also helped out and younger volunteers helped by being puck chasers, retrieving what pucks could be found in the snow. Bolton Rotary brought their food trailer to sell hot food and drinks right by the ice.

Local real estate agent Darryl MacArthur donated 200 pucks for the event and there were enough of these left over at the end of the games for each player to receive a new puck with the tournament logo as souvenir. Bolton's Cedar Hills Pontiac, Buick Cadillac dealership represented by Ian McEachern donated and presented the Caddy Cup which will immortalize them as the tournament's first winners.

Photos and more information can be found on the tournament Web site www.canadianpondhockey.om.

Next year's tournament tentatively planned for Feb. 16 and 17, 2008.