Pond hockey teams from Sudbury have a shot at
tasting victory at the first ever Source For Sports Canadian
National Pond Hockey Championships and to see their names in
lights at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The new national championship will deliver
what all hockey fans love about our game: fast paced,
wide-open, competitive action.
Registration for the event, open to men's
players 25 years and over and women players 19 years and over
(as of Jan. 1, 2006), started on Sept. 1 at a special ceremony
at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Championships will be challenged on six
acres of natural ice from Jan. 27 to 29, 2006 at Deerhurst
Resort in Huntsville.
Neil Lumsden, Executive Director, is betting
the championship will attract hundreds of recreational players
and fans from across Canada in a celebration of hockey's
roots.
"This championship will bring together people
from across the country and around the world to compete in and
celebrate the purest form of hockey," said Lumsden in a news
release. "Pond hockey is the great leveler. A local team that
has honed its skills on the frozen ponds...could be the
ultimate champions."
Men's and women's teams from Sudbury can
register until Oct. 14, at www.canadapondhockey.ca.
Teams can consist of to five competitors,
although shifts are limited to four per side. The championship
is endorsed by the World Pond Hockey Championships, which is
held each year in Plaster Rock.
The championship is attracting large support
from businesses across Canada including Source For Sports, the
title sponsor, and presenting sponsor Yamaha Motor
Canada.
Source For Sports is extended its involvement
to all of its 150+ community stores across Canada. In addition,
proceeds from every team's registration will go to the Source
For Sports designated charity Shoot For A Cure. Shoot For A
Cure is a hockey-focused charity with a mission to educate
Canadians about spinal cord injuries and eventually to finding
a cure.
The championships will be played pretty much
the same way our hockey forefathers intended. There will be few
rules (except those focused on safety and fair play), no
goalies and no on-ice officials. In all, 120 men's and women's
teams will compete for a chance to have their names engraved on
championship trophies hand carved out of maple.
The Championship Cups are to be displayed for
all to see at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Honorary chair and women's Olympic
gold-medallist, Geraldine Heaney expects a strong line-up of
men's and women's teams. "This takes you back to the backyard
rink, the local pond. This where many hockey greats first
developed their skills," she said in a news release.
Ice Hockey - Canada's National Game - was
conceived over a century ago on frozen ponds, rivers and lakes
across Canada. The earliest of games were indicative of the
times. Players wore blades strapped to shoes and used sticks
formed from tree branches. The game had plenty of other
peculiarities. It wasn't unusual to have up 30 players aside,
and the first puck (invented in Kingston, Ontario in 1860) was
stamped not of rubber, but hand carved out of wood. The first
rules came to be in 1879 by students of Montreal's McGill
University. But they were basic rules, not much different than
today's pond hockey.
In the early 20th century, hockey evolved
from the pond into man-made arenas and went on to experience
many changes. All the while, pond hockey on the other hand has
not changed much from its original form - the use of limited
equipment (skates, stick, puck), the objectives, rules and most
notably the fact it is played outdoors on a frozen pond. The
game requires speed, agility, strength, finesse, teamwork and
the courage and desire to battle the deepest chills of
winter.
There are no face-off circles. In fact there
are few stoppages in play, except when goals are scored, the
puck goes out of bounds or a player is called for an
infraction. In all of those cases possession of the puck in
turned over to the opposing team. There are no blue lines and
no off-sides, making for lots of dramatic rink-length
passes.
In the National Championships there will be
no refs on the ice, only rink side officials. And off course
there are no goalies, leaving the job of protecting the 4-inch
by 8-foot net up to the defense. It all adds up to an
exceptionally exciting brand of hockey, something every
recreational player and fan needs to experience.
For more information on the championships,
including rules and format, how to register, travel information
and the full schedule of events, visit
www.canadapondhockey.ca
.