Pond hockey tourney wants Northern teams

The education center pond behind Canadore College and Nipissing university in North Bay will be transformed into a multi outdoor rink facility for North Bay’s first ever pond hockey tournament.

Former local NHLers Bill Barber and Bill Houlder were in attendance on the chilly ice surface behind Canadore College Tuesday morning along with a group of local dignitaries.

"That's where it all started," said hall of famer Bill Barber who chivered during the ceremony on the pond.

"This is the way to go, we all started that way, years ago,” said Barber who has fond memories of the outdoor rink his father built for the family in Callander.

"I never started playing on artificial ice until I was 12 or 13 years old,” added the hall of famer who will play a supporting role in the tournament.

Former NHLer and ex-Centennial Bill Houlder is glad to see tournaments like this cropping up across the nation. He believes pond hockey or hockey on outdoor rinks needs to become more of a focus especially in Northern Ontario.

"You can go out here for nothing and you can ‘toe drag’ you can flip it up in the air and those things and it’s a great way and a great place to work on your skills,” said Houlder who will be playing on a men’s team at the event.

The “Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off” will take place on six ice surfaces on February 25th and 26th. Organizers are hoping to have 36 teams on board for the 3 on 3 event which will be broken down into six age categories: Tyke/Novice 8 years and under, Atom/Peewee 12 and under, Bantam/Midget 17 and under, and a women’s and men’s open category.

"The theme was to have it community driven and work in partnership with Canadore College and hopefully with these partnerships we will become the place to be to play pond hockey,” said Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off co-chair Dan Selin.

While the 36 team tournament will likely include mainly local clubs, officials with the Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off would welcome out of town teams with open arms.

"This is the start of something special and we’d love Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and the rest of the North to become a part of it,” said co-chair Chris Dawson.

The Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off hopes to include teams from across North America for 2007.

Want to Play?

Each team will be allowed to use four to six players and the cost for the men’s and women’s teams will be $450.00 per team (guaranteed five games), while other four younger categories cost is only $300.00 per team.

Help on board/Iluvnorthbay.com jumped on board to support the event and designed the unique beaver logo. "It's a natural fit for I love North Bay and it will be something to increase tourism and bring more people to our community and it’s a real family event,” said Iluvnorthbay.com’s Paul Robillard who’s website will also be used for interested hockey teams to register for the event.

The canadore college website www.canadorec.on.ca will also link interested hockey teams to the rules and registration.

All the funds raised by the volunteer pond hockey committee will go to improving outdoor area rinks and support North Bay minor hockey.

PHOTO: Former NHLer Bill Houlder (far left) takes a face-off with Devon Marson (right) as Canadore President Barbara Taylor and North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli drop the puck at the launch of the Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off. Photo courtesy www.Iluvnorthbay.com