The Pond Hockey Portal!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pond hockey still a riot for 50-year-old
He hadn't played hockey outdoors in below-zero weather since he was a kid, but 50-year-old Dave Bressler of St. Charles said he had a smile on his face the whole time.
That whole time was as one of six members of The Clowns, a team of middle-age players from the Fox Valley area competing last month in the 2008 LaBatt Blue USA Hockey Pond Championships played on a lake in Eagle River, Wis.
The Clowns won two games before losing 18-8 to The Outlaws, a team from Elmhurst, but that didn't matter to Bressler and his teammates.
"It was just a riot," said Bressler, who convinced his hockey pals to enter the tournament and stay in his nearby cabin during the event. "They had 18 rinks set up, and the rinks are smaller, so it was just like playing outside when you were a kid."
Bressler said the games feature four players, with no goalie. "The goal is 6 feet wide and 8 inches high," Bressler said. "And you can't lift the puck in the air. If the puck goes in the air or out of bounds against a snow bank, it is a turnover to the other team."
Bressler said the event featured 140 teams from 24 states, but he found it most interesting that Bill Ford, the chairman of Ford Motor Company, was playing with a team Ford sponsored.
A holy honor: Father Dan Deutsch thanked parishioners at Holy Cross in Batavia last weekend for helping him receive a high honor in the Catholic Church.
He'll have to change his voice mail greeting on his phone to Monsignor Dan, rather than Father Dan, as the Holy Cross pastor has received that designation from Rockford Diocese Bishop Thomas Doran.
"It's an honor that the bishop would submit my name to the pope for this consideration," said Monsignor Deutsch, who grew up on the west side of St. Charles and has been in the priesthood for 14 years, with seven of those as pastor at Holy Cross.
"It's really a papal honor and it designates the recipient as a papal chamberlain or part of the papal household," Monsignor Deutsch added. "It's also a validation of the vitality and spirit of the people of Holy Cross, and I thanked them for that."
The recognition generally comes to pastors of large parishes, or those who oversee a Catholic school, or have other responsibilities in the diocese. Monsignor Deutsch fills that bill on all counts.
"I have known since last October and I told my parents, who were thrilled, but knew they had to keep it a secret," Monsignor Deutsch said.
Popular party: This appears to be a natural as a popular event if you are in charge of a senior citizen center -- offer a St. Patrick's Day dinner.
The Geneva Senior Center in Wheeler Park did that, and the response was such that arrangements had to be made for two seatings Monday afternoon.
That whole time was as one of six members of The Clowns, a team of middle-age players from the Fox Valley area competing last month in the 2008 LaBatt Blue USA Hockey Pond Championships played on a lake in Eagle River, Wis.
The Clowns won two games before losing 18-8 to The Outlaws, a team from Elmhurst, but that didn't matter to Bressler and his teammates.
"It was just a riot," said Bressler, who convinced his hockey pals to enter the tournament and stay in his nearby cabin during the event. "They had 18 rinks set up, and the rinks are smaller, so it was just like playing outside when you were a kid."
Bressler said the games feature four players, with no goalie. "The goal is 6 feet wide and 8 inches high," Bressler said. "And you can't lift the puck in the air. If the puck goes in the air or out of bounds against a snow bank, it is a turnover to the other team."
Bressler said the event featured 140 teams from 24 states, but he found it most interesting that Bill Ford, the chairman of Ford Motor Company, was playing with a team Ford sponsored.
A holy honor: Father Dan Deutsch thanked parishioners at Holy Cross in Batavia last weekend for helping him receive a high honor in the Catholic Church.
He'll have to change his voice mail greeting on his phone to Monsignor Dan, rather than Father Dan, as the Holy Cross pastor has received that designation from Rockford Diocese Bishop Thomas Doran.
"It's an honor that the bishop would submit my name to the pope for this consideration," said Monsignor Deutsch, who grew up on the west side of St. Charles and has been in the priesthood for 14 years, with seven of those as pastor at Holy Cross.
"It's really a papal honor and it designates the recipient as a papal chamberlain or part of the papal household," Monsignor Deutsch added. "It's also a validation of the vitality and spirit of the people of Holy Cross, and I thanked them for that."
The recognition generally comes to pastors of large parishes, or those who oversee a Catholic school, or have other responsibilities in the diocese. Monsignor Deutsch fills that bill on all counts.
"I have known since last October and I told my parents, who were thrilled, but knew they had to keep it a secret," Monsignor Deutsch said.
Popular party: This appears to be a natural as a popular event if you are in charge of a senior citizen center -- offer a St. Patrick's Day dinner.
The Geneva Senior Center in Wheeler Park did that, and the response was such that arrangements had to be made for two seatings Monday afternoon.
Friday, March 07, 2008
World championship pond hockey scores big
Pond hockey takes the game back to its roots to “when we were kids, with snowbanks for borders and little nets with no goalies,” says Mark Doolan.
If there’s anything that exemplifies Canadian sport better than the game of hockey, it could only be pond hockey. It’s the game in its purest form with roots as deep as the frozen Canadian soil will allow.
Recently, the District of Logan Lake hosted the Western Cup of Pond Hockey and a South Cariboo team had the honour of taking part. They also came away with a win.
The squad of Mark Doolan, Geoff Butcher, Mike Davidson and Terry Crosby took first place in the 40 and Over division.
The round robin tournament attracted 24 adult teams which did not include goaltenders on their rosters. Doolan said they played with open nets, with four games going simultaneously on the surface of frozen Logan Lake. Each game lasted 30 minutes.
Doolan, who is a teacher at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School, wasn’t about to hang up his hockey skates after the impressive win.
He hopped on board with a team from the Lower Mainland and headed out for the World Pond Hockey Championship, held Feb. 6-10 in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. It featured 120 teams from around the world including Egypt, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Latvia and all over Canada and the U.S.
The tournament had 40 teams playing simultaneously on 20 rinks approximately 75'x150' in size. More than 8,000 spectators also attended the event.
They ironically registered as a team from Phoenix, Arizona, where pond hockey is virtually unheard of. He explained that a limited number of spots on the roster were assigned to Canadians and the competition for them was thick.
“The odds are just better if you go south,” said Doolan.
His team got five games in round robin play, challenging Montreal, Nova Scotia twice, London, England and California and finished with three wins and two losses.
“Playing outdoors was just awesome,” said Doolan. “Just like when we were kids, with snowbanks for borders and little nets with no goalies.”
The tournament was called The Goodwill Cup and Doolan said it was aptly named.
“The neatest thing was the attitudes. We were all there for the same reason. To just have fun,” he said. “One of us was way out of shape and another one was just new to hockey.”
Doolan wasn’t sure exactly how his team placed but figured they were in the top 40. He plans to give it a try again next year.
“I think the more exposure pond hockey gets, the more people will get hooked on it,” said Doolan.
If there’s anything that exemplifies Canadian sport better than the game of hockey, it could only be pond hockey. It’s the game in its purest form with roots as deep as the frozen Canadian soil will allow.
Recently, the District of Logan Lake hosted the Western Cup of Pond Hockey and a South Cariboo team had the honour of taking part. They also came away with a win.
The squad of Mark Doolan, Geoff Butcher, Mike Davidson and Terry Crosby took first place in the 40 and Over division.
The round robin tournament attracted 24 adult teams which did not include goaltenders on their rosters. Doolan said they played with open nets, with four games going simultaneously on the surface of frozen Logan Lake. Each game lasted 30 minutes.
Doolan, who is a teacher at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School, wasn’t about to hang up his hockey skates after the impressive win.
He hopped on board with a team from the Lower Mainland and headed out for the World Pond Hockey Championship, held Feb. 6-10 in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. It featured 120 teams from around the world including Egypt, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Latvia and all over Canada and the U.S.
The tournament had 40 teams playing simultaneously on 20 rinks approximately 75'x150' in size. More than 8,000 spectators also attended the event.
They ironically registered as a team from Phoenix, Arizona, where pond hockey is virtually unheard of. He explained that a limited number of spots on the roster were assigned to Canadians and the competition for them was thick.
“The odds are just better if you go south,” said Doolan.
His team got five games in round robin play, challenging Montreal, Nova Scotia twice, London, England and California and finished with three wins and two losses.
“Playing outdoors was just awesome,” said Doolan. “Just like when we were kids, with snowbanks for borders and little nets with no goalies.”
The tournament was called The Goodwill Cup and Doolan said it was aptly named.
“The neatest thing was the attitudes. We were all there for the same reason. To just have fun,” he said. “One of us was way out of shape and another one was just new to hockey.”
Doolan wasn’t sure exactly how his team placed but figured they were in the top 40. He plans to give it a try again next year.
“I think the more exposure pond hockey gets, the more people will get hooked on it,” said Doolan.
