Labatt Blue will host the second annual Pond Hockey Tournament on Saturday, February 7, from 7:30AM to 5PM at the Erie Basin Marina. The tournament will feature eight brackets of eight teams each, representing novice, intermediate and advanced players. Last year's 16 teams, including the Americans who won the tournament, will be invited to compete with the other advanced players. Four regional tournaments in Pittsburgh, Penn., Syracuse, Saratoga and East Aurora, New York, each will send their winning team to participate.
Labatt USA worked in conjunction with the City of Buffalo and Erie County to expand this event, making it a regional draw. Scheduled to be held on eight rinks, the tournament will span nearly 136,000 square feet on the frozen lake. Competitive, entertaining and nostalgic, the event will also carry the benefit of turning eyes on Buffalo in terms of outdoor winter entertainment.
"We want to create an authentic hockey experience that takes people back to hockey's roots," said Peter Bodenham, director of marketing, for Labatt USA. "Our tournament is played on Lake Erie and the choppy, dull surface delivers hockey in its purest form. Players maintain the ice with shovel and buckets of water, much like you would during a pick-up game on a neighborhood pond."
Ed Ellis of Performax Hockey Systems has been named tournament manager for the second year in a row. As such, Ellis will oversee team and referee recruitment, game scheduling and tournament day events. Teams will be comprised of four to six players, 21 years of age and older, who play a four-on-four format, minus the goalie.
Nets are six inches high and six feet wide like the goals used in USA Pond Hockey. Teams will compete in a round robin format in one of eight divisions. The winner of each bracket will go on to play a championship game.
"We're really excited about this year's tournament," said Bodenham. "We've expanded the level of players who can participate and lowered the age to 21 as our consumers requested."
In addition to the tournament getting larger, Labatt Blue also will add music, a skills competition, food and apparel vendors and a short list of local sponsors.
"Labatt USA has proved that the City of Buffalo is one of our country's and North America's hockey hotbeds," said Mayor Byron W. Brown."Thanks to the overwhelming success of last year's Pond Hockey Tournament on the city's waterfront, this year's edition will be larger, more entertaining and great fun for players and fans alike. I commend Labatt USA for its commitment to the City of Buffalo and our region. They have helped create a great winter sports and entertainment event that has demonstrated the attractiveness of Buffalo's four-season appeal."
"The Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament celebrates Erie County's love of hockey and helps bring people to Buffalo's waterfront," said Erie County Executive Chris Collins. "I want to thank Labatt USA for investing in our community and I am pleased Erie County's Parks Department could help implement this exciting event."
For tournament information
and game schedules, please go to www.performaxhockey.com or become a fan at http://tinyurl.com/labattfacebook
Click here for a great video from last year by Ben Richey.
The Labatt Blue Pond Hockey
Tournament is subject to weather conditions.
this is a great event. Why couldn't they make it bigger this year so more teams could sign up?
Glad you like the event and we hope you'll stop down. This year's event quadrupled in size (16 to 64 teams)...unfortunately or fortunately - it sold out almost immediately.