The US Pond Hockey Championships take months of organizing, but the 19th annual edition had a touch of seat-of-the-breezers pretournament hustle.
That’s because organizers weren’t given the go-ahead from Minneapolis city officials until Tuesday to erect the 24 rinks on top of frozen Lake Nokomis, complete with wooden boards and goalmouths.
And after 48 hours, things were nearly perfect for the ceremonial first puck drop on Friday morning.
Kind of.
There was a last-minute switch from Rink 22 to Rink 1 for what some felt was an underwhelming ceremony.
“I didn’t know if we were taking it seriously or not,” said Levi Neitzel, representing the Northern Divers, referring to the puck being dropped in the corner of the rink instead of center ice.
“He didn’t swing at it,” said Neitzel of his counterpart. “So, I didn’t, either. But I feel like I could have taken it.”
It was just two weeks ago that there was exactly zero ice on Lake Nokomis, and no plan for an alternative site.
The hope for the right conditions resulted in an ice surface that few have ever seen at this event.
“The quick freeze, it grew so fast,” said tournament manager Jesse Delorit. “There’s no layers of snow in there, there’s no cloudiness to it, it’s just basically black ice top to bottom. It’s like glass out there.”
Delorit said the ice is thick enough to support all of the 300-some teams that’ll play in the tournament over the next two weekends.
One thing that they’re taking a pass on is using full-size Zamboni ice resurfacers to keep the rinks in good shape.
Anthony Parra instead is using one of those circular brushes that are used to clear city sidewalks.
“It’s just like mowing the lawn in a way, line-by-line, and try to push the snow to one end,” he said.
A smooth path from the warming tent to Nokomis beach to the rinks was welcome for the players, and the guys who make sure they’re stocked with provisions.
“Hockey equipment, chairs for sitting around between games, some beers, all the stuff you need to stay warm,” said Pat Berger, about the chock-full sled that he dragged out to the far reaches of the makeshift complex. “The colder it is, the more stuff you gotta bring.”
And cold it is, with temperatures in the low single digits when play began.