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183 U.S. Pond
Hockey Championships+ 060120 – 0122 --- In
Minnesota, we can easily make rinks on lakes during
this time of year*. Written: 060122, Posted: 060207
Photos: Photo Gallery > Minnesota Events > 1 - 3 > U.S. Pond
Hockey Championships
128 teams enrolled in this past weekend’s pond hockey championships on
Lake Calhoun in
Minneapolis, MN. They made 25 rinks for the championships on the lake (although
we heard they made 26 rinks). The winners are invited to the Canadian National
Pond Hockey Championships++ in Ontario, Canada occurring next
weekend. It is likely that the rest of the participants will go to Lake Phalen,
St. Paul, MN. since the St. Paul Winter Carnival will also host the Minnesota
Wild pond hockey championships at Lake Phalen next weekend* (we saw 18 rinks
ready on Lake Phalen this past Sun.).
The pond hockey games are 4 on 4 games, don’t allow checking, and don’t have
goaltenders. Instead of a goaltender, a special wooden goal (as you can see in
Photo 5) is used. This goal is a four sided rectangular enclosure (no top
and bottom covers), with the front side having two openings.
If you hit the
puck (with your stick) into your opponent’s goal through one of the openings,
you will score a goal.
Players competed in
open, women’s and senior men’s divisions. As you can see in
Photo 3, we can take advantage of
Minnesota's very cold winters to easily build rinks
on lakes.
Note: According to the Pioneer Press (060121), the opening (Friday night)
included a face-off between Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Team
Minnesota and St.
Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s Minnesota White Caps. It looks like Tim (we heard
that the Governor is a very good hockey player) and Chris (he just became the
mayor of St. Paul this year and may be athletic, too.) played pond hockey this
past Fri. Also, as we all expected, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, the fittest
mayor in America** (Congrats!) , attended Friday night’s opening ceremonies.
Our political leaders in Minnesota are physically in shape as well as political
talents. Note from Japanese F: I recall that Japanese leaders seldom
participate in competitive sports tournaments such as ice hockey.
References
Star Tribune,
Minneapolis,
MN <
http://www.startribune.com ><
http://www.happynews.com/news/192006/pond-hockey-championships-benefit-charities.htm
>
St. Paul Pioneer Press,
St. Paul, MN <
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/ >
Pond Hockey Tournament Rules <
https://store.canamhockey.com/pond_hockey_rules.pdf#search='pond%20hockey' >
+
U.S. Pond Hockey Championships <
http://www.uspondhockey.com/ >
++ Canadian National Pond Hockey Championships <
http://www.canadapondhockey.ca/main/ >
* Ops! It’s record warm this week. This balmy weather could jeopardize the
Minnesota Wild pond hockey championships <
http://www.winter-carnival.com/events/2006/MNwildpondhockey.htm > at
Lake Phalen. In
fact, the championships were postponed and then held on February 4th and 5th.
St. Paul Winter Carnival <
http://www.winter-carnival.com/ >
**
Fittest Mayor in America
<
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=116091 >
Men’s Fitness <
http://www.mensfitness.com/ >
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