Over 50 teams braved the cold weather and played in the third annual Tim Horton’s Western Canada Pond Hockey Championship on Chestermere Lake.
Hockey and ringette teams played on 14 rinks, from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30, as event organizers chose to postpone the tournament by one day for the safety of participants and vendors due to the extreme cold weather.
“With the wind chill it was going to dip down to close to -40, and we just thought that is far too cold for anyone to be outside,” event chair Alex Halat said in a media release. “It is one thing to be tough, it’s another to be crazy to play in this weather.”
The tournament first started in 2018 and is played every year after Christmas.
The event always raises funds for local and surrounding area charitable organizations.
This year, the funds raised were allocated to Camp Chestermere and Synergy.
“Both local and well-deserving charities in the City of Chestermere,” the release said.
Last year, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, this year organizers felt it was important to not cancel for a second year.
“We felt it was important to not postpone for another year. We worked really hard to ensure that we would be keeping participants, spectators, and the community safe, and I feel we have achieved this,” Halat said.
Games were spread out in times, additional space was made between rinks, participants, and spectators were asked to bring their own chairs, the tournament was also limited to youth players and did not have adult teams in order to keep numbers down.
“We have walked through this event through participant and spectator eyes to ensure that we have all safety concerns regarding COVID-19 covered, event planner Lesley Plumley said. “It’s very important to all of us that everyone leaves our event feeling that we made sure that they were safe and yet they had a good time.”
Without the staff and volunteers, the annual beloved hockey tournament wouldn’t be possible each year.
“We have to give a huge shout-out to all the staff and volunteers who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly,” the event Facebook page said.
Adding, “After having to cancel last year, it sure feels good to be back.”
