No refs, no goalies and the best pond hockey ice in Canada

As Sarah Nelson speaks with Cabin Radio, her eyelid appears to swell. It’s becoming more blue with each passing second.

This is Hay River’s Polar Pond Hockey tournament, and Nelson is recovering from a wayward stick to the face.

“Just incidental play,” said Nelson, with a laugh. “Now I look tough.”

The annual event took over the town’s Fisherman’s Wharf this past weekend, hosting 24 teams on eight expertly manicured rinks on the Hay River.

With no referees or goalies in sight and nets that sit less than a foot off the ground, pond hockey is a bit of a different sport.

“We all come and just have a good time, and it’s less competitive,” said Nelson.

The three-day-long event highlighted the town’s commitment to community, its toughness, and a celebration of Canada’s national game at a time when we might all be celebrating parts of our national identity a little harder than normal.

The tournament was first held in 2009, when Curtis Rowe and his co-founders were looking for ways to entice more people to the town and spur the local economy during the recession.

Rowe said he wanted to see either a pond hockey tournament or an indoor rodeo.

“I still want to do an indoor rodeo – I think that would be awesome – but we don’t have any cowboys, so this was a little bit more achievable,” said Rowe.

There were a few years when the event didn’t run. In 2018, Hay River instead hosted the Arctic Winter Games. In 2019, the weather was so warm that the ice was unusable. In 2020, organizers were a few hours away from puck drop when Covid-19 restrictions were implemented that prevented indoor gatherings.

“We had everything set up, all the rooms done, signs up, nets out, everything ready to go,” said Rowe.

That year was going to be the first using the newly built Fisherman’s Wharf Pavilion as an indoor gathering area where people could eat, drink and warm up.

Previously, the event had relied on giant wedding and event rental tents, but with funds raised through the tournament, government funding and a few other community organizations, the pavilion was built.

Now, the building serves as an all-season event space that hosts farmers’ markets in the summer.

The event also helps fundraise for other causes and events.

“We have raised over $100,000 for great causes over the years, from our local Olympian Brendan Green to funds towards our new arena and this year supporting a family from our local fire department who are battling cancer,” wrote Rowe in an email.

Rowe said it takes weeks just to prepare the ice for the tournament, never mind the work required to secure sponsors, vendors and performers.

The event is entirely volunteer-organized. Rowe said the committee of organizers is largely the same group of people who signed up to help back in 2009.

Hay River Mayor Kandis Jameson used to compete in the tournament. Now, she volunteers.

“I don’t think you’re ever not part of pond hockey once you start the process,” said Jameson.

“It takes volunteers and stuff doesn’t happen without those amazing people, and they keep coming back, so they must love it as well,”

Rowe’s father, Greg – “our ice master,” as his son referred to him – starts off by plowing snow off the surface before using a skid steer to build banks along the perimeter of each rink. Volunteers drill holes in the ice to flood each rink using a hose and water from the river.

Throughout the course of the weekend, a team of four Zambonis works to create and maintain what Rowe says are the best ice conditions he’s seen at any pond hockey event he’s attended, “including the world championships.”

Zamboni driver Steve Campbell has been volunteering almost since the first pond hockey event. He and his two apprentices, daughters Noah and Molly, work all weekend to keep the ice flat and cracks filled in “to save everybody’s ankles,” said Campbell.

A couple new to Hay River, who were hesitant to have their names published, said they had never seen anything like this. It felt “very Canadian,” one of the pair noted.

Nearly every player speaking with Cabin Radio said bringing people together is what makes Polar Pond Hockey so special.

“It’s always good to see ladies we don’t see very often,” said Courtney Fraser.

Asked what he loves about the event, Levon Schumann said: “Being here with all the boys playing hockey, hanging out with everyone in the community.”

It probably doesn’t hurt that the tournament includes a welcome party with a live band, a bar run by the town’s minor hockey association, and a mickey of Fireball that seems to be perpetually making its way around the pavilion – a party so good that people willingly spend the weekend peeing in outdoor toilets so chilly that it sometimes snows a little on the inside.

Participants are happy to take a stick to the eye or puck to the shins to watch finals gripping enough to capture the attention of even the least athletic reporter.

Mayor Jameson said temperatures nearly reached a bone-chilling -40C on Friday evening during the welcome party, but that didn’t deter some 300 people from showing up.

“Good music, good food, good people,” said Jameson. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”