The U.S. Pond Hockey Championships were completed last weekend, with 160 teams competing on 25 rinks at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. At the same time in Colorado, the 19th Rocky Mountain Pond Hockey Championships unfolded on eight rinks at Nottingham Lake in Avon.
Both tournaments celebrated the roots of hockey, and provided insight and encouragement to those who may not know the advantages of playing the game atop natural frozen water at thousands of locations throughout the colder climates of the country.
Financially, pond hockey is the equivalent of playing a pick-up game of basketball at your local recreation center. If there is a fee, it’s modest. And for adults, equipment generally consists only of skates and a stick.
For individual skill development — particularly youngsters — the outdoor game has significant advantages. It’s a 4-on-4, finesse-and-flow passing game, with no blue lines or offside, no slap shots or hard wrist shots, no checking, no dump-ins, and typically no indirect passes off the boards (if any are present). With no offside, it promotes odd-man transition offense and back-door defense.
“Pond hockey is just the raw beauty of the game,” said Mark Rycroft, a former University of Denver captain and Avalanche winger who currently works on the NHL club’s postgame broadcast team. “It’s where you develop skill, because there is no hitting and there typically are no boards, so you can’t dump it in or play the puck off the wall.
“You have to make sure your pass is on the stick, otherwise the puck is in the snowbank. I think that’s why people develop so many puck-handling skills, because it’s the only attribute promoted.”
Rycroft and other former NHL players participated in the Rocky Mountain tournament, an event organized by Vail resident Andy Clark. Clark is a Minnesota native and former Division III All-American at St. John’s University.
“Pond hockey is what every youth hockey coach would want their kids to play to provide more touches with the puck and encourage creativity,” Clark said. “In youth hockey, there isn’t individually as much creativity because kids are practice players. They’re on the ice for one hour and, because of the time restraint, coaches use them as a chess game.”
The majority of structured pond hockey in Colorado is being played in mountain communities, including Zamboni-groomed surfaces in Keystone and Evergreen that are typically open from November through March. The Fort Collins Pond Hockey League plays at Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch in Red Feather Lakes.
Weather permitting, games also are played at metropolitan parks or residential open space.
Most “rinks” are smaller than the NHL-standard 200-by-85 feet. Clark goes with a 145-by-65 dimension, with 10-inch-high lumber as boarding. He does not use goalies, instead having a square box with two small holes on each side as the scoring areas.
Referees call penalties from the scorer’s table. Besides the traditional infractions (hooking, holding, tripping), a player cannot score from the defensive side of the ice.
“Most hockey players remember lacing up their skates at a local pond as a kid,” Clark said. “It’s where young hockey player’s dreams are made and their skills are honed.”
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Pond hockey’s best bet
Evergreen Lake
This 40-acre lake is the most popular local pond hockey venue and the one closest to Denver. It features seven hockey rinks manicured daily by a Zamboni. For more information, call 720-880-1391 or 303-512-9300 or visit
