By Cliff White
Staff Writer
There comes a time in every hockey player’s life when he or she realizes their days of competitive skating have slipped behind them. The Southern Maine Pond Hockey Tournament plans on giving these hockey players a weekend of remembrance of glory days past and forgetfulness of the limit the present has put on their bodies.
The Bonny Eagle Ice Skating Association, along with Standish Kiwanis club and the Standish Recreation Department, have organized the first of what they hope will become an annual event – a weekend-long pond hockey tournament on Watchic Lake in Standish.
The tournament will raise funds for the association, which supports youth ice hockey programs, including the Bonny Eagle middle school and high school teams.
“Pond hockey tournaments are huge in Canada and Minnesota,” said Pat Fecteau, president of the association and a lead organizer of the tournament. “It’s going to be something for the community to get into and get behind, and participate in and have fun.”
The tournament, which will run Jan. 26 and 27, will use a set of modified rules harkening back to the days of childhood backyard games. Teams will play four on four, with no goalies. Each team can have up to six players on its roster, and each team will play at least three games composed of two 20-minute halves, with success leading to the chance a team will play more games.
Kiwanis and Standish Recreation officials have both stepped in to help with running the tournament. The recreation department will be running a concessions stand for the duration of the tournament, selling hot food and beverages to keep the competitors and their fans from going hungry or getting too cold.
The Kiwanis have donated the use of their beach on Watchic Lake for the weekend and have plowed snow off the lake to create the playing surface. Kiwanis’ Standish chapter president Todd Delaney said he loved the idea of the tournament and was excited to see how the tournament turns out.
“It’s the way hockey was played for the longest time,” Delaney said. “It’s going back to the way hockey was played, it’s harkening back to the golden days, the way I played when I was growing up. No goalies, just a bunch of guys out on the pond having some good-natured fun.”
The tournament is not meant for high-level players, Delaney said, but rather for the weekend warrior or parent whose own sporting prowess has lapsed after becoming a devoted fan of the athletic exploits of their offspring. On Watchic Lake, four age divisions will be playing for pond hockey glory. Men 40 years and older will compete in the “Legends of the Pond Division,” men 30- to 39-years-old will play in the “Rusty Edge Division” and men ages 18 to 29 will play in the “Young Guns Division.”
There is one division composed of women’s teams. Fecteau said she already has a dozen teams signed up for the event and is taking sign-ups until two days before the event. Registration and sign in for the event begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday, and games are expected to begin around 8:30 to 9 a.m.
Standish Recreation Director Linda Brooks said she is excited for the tournament to take place in Standish.
“I don’t believe there is anything like this taking place in our area of Maine,” Brooks said. “I’m excited about this being a great recreational opportunity for people, especially in a time when it’s difficult to get exercise. And I think if this event continues into future years, it has the potential to draw increasing attention and put us on the map.”
Judy Farwell, a volunteer for the Bonny Eagle Ice Skating Association, has helped to organize the event. She said she thinks it will be lots of fun, not only for the players, but for the spectators as well.
“There are going to be four games going on at the same time. The game clocks are going to be starting and stopping at the same time. So I think as far as people just interested in coming down to watch the action, it’s going to be a lot of fun for them too,” Farwell said.
Farwell said she expected the event to raise about $5,000 to $7,000, depending on how many people attend. The association has an annual budget of $20,000, and its main expense is ice time for the teams it supports, Fecteau said.
Ice time costs $200 an hour, and because the association supports the Scots as well as the Lil Scots for kids 3-years-old and older, a team that introduces kids to skating and hockey, ice time can become quite expensive.
Half of the association’s annual operating budget is raised through membership, while the other half is collected through fundraising.
“We have to do a lot of fundraisers every year, like bottle drives and raffling off Red Sox tickets, to raise the money,” Fecteau said. “This year, we were trying to come up with something fun and different. We thought if we can get one fundraiser that is really fun and brings in a lot of people, it has the potential to raise more money and it will be a lot more fun for everybody than scrounging through your house looking for bottles.”
Delaney said Watchic Lake is an ideal choice for the tournament, since its water is very shallow for hundreds of feet out from the beach, meaning the ice is more solid and the danger for falling through is minimal.
“Everyone involved with this is getting the sense that it could be a lot of fun,” Delaney said. “We’re hoping to see a lot of people come out and participate in one way or another, because these type of activites have a positive impact in so many ways – in getting people outside and active, in promoting the area, and in raising money for a good cause.”
To register for the tournament, visit the Standish Recreation Web site at www.standish.org and click on the link for the Southern Maine Pond Hockey Tournament, or call Pat Fecteau at 642-3764.
Fecteau said she was hoping to receive all registrations at least two days before the event. Entry fees are $250 for a team or $50 per individual, and there is no charge for spectating.
All players are responsible for bringing their own skates and sticks, as well as two different colored uniforms – light and dark – to match with their team.
Uniforms can be sweatshirts. In case of a blizzard or unusually warm temperatures, an alternate date for the event has been set for the following weekend, Feb. 1 and 2.