[Tournament Recap] Grouse Mountain Pond Hockey Tournament

Burnaby Wildcats Novice at the Grouse Mountain Pond Hockey Tournament

Playing hockey on outdoor ice rinks is one of Canada's oldest and richest hockey traditions. Outdoor rinks have been the stage for the beginnings of many of Canada's greatest hockey stories. From Wayne Gretzky to Sidney Crosby to Angela James to Geraldine Heaney, all the game's great players seem to start their hockey stories the same way: playing all day, every day, on outdoor hockey rinks near their homes. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, if you don't like the cold!), backyard hockey rinks are a rarity in the Lower Mainland. It isn't often that temperatures sink low enough for residents to get a sheet of ice ready for play. To get a real taste of what the rest of Canada is talking about, we Vancouverites have to make the trek up to one of the local mountains before we too can enjoy outdoor hockey.

Burnaby Wildcats (Team Czech Republic) in action

Fortunately, Grouse Mountain features one of the best outdoor rinks on the West Coast - an 8000 square foot sheet of ice, surrounded by trees and slopes, located high above the city. The rink is open to the public starting from late-November through to mid-April. This year, during the week of February 5th to 9th, Grouse Mountain held their annual Junior Pond Hockey Tournament. The Burnaby Wildcats Novice team saw this as a perfect and unique opportunity to take their players away from the indoor rinks they're used to and up to Grouse Mountain for what truly became a memorable weekend.

The Burnaby Wildcats were one of only two all-female teams that entered the tournament. Each team that entered was assigned an Olympic-participant country, which they would be "representing" in this tournament. The teams included Russia, Canada, Slovakia, Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic, USA, Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, and Latvia. The Burnaby Wildcats were assigned as Team Czech Republic, and the only other all-female Novice team was Slovenia. The tournament was played at 3-on-3 format, with no scorekeeping, no lines on the ice, no icings or offsides, and no penalties. A referee was there to ensure safety but the environment was pretty casual and everyone was allowed to keep the play going. There were no whistles so the players had to change on the fly! There were no boards either. The rink surface was surrounded by snowbanks on all sides. In addition to playing against Slovenia, the Burnaby Wildcats (or rather, the Czech Republic Wildcats!) also played against Switzerland and Austria. The latter two games were against teams comprised mainly of boys, and our Novice girls did a great job of playing against them.

It was a beautiful, sunny day but it was definitely cold up there! At one point on the Wednesday evening, temperatures dropped to -11C. Players had to improvise a little bit to make sure they were nice and warm. In addition to the great memories of playing outdoor hockey, the players also got to keep their very stylish Team Czech Republic jerseys as a souvenir. 

As is always the case in a sport like hockey, participating in this tournament required a lot of commitment on the part of the Wildcats parents. It is never easy to give up a weekend and to ensure that all the gear gets packed and put on properly and that everyone has a good time. It is always said that when players look back at their minor hockey experiences, no one will remember every single practice or game. What they will remember are the memorable moments where they were doing something different and doing it together as a team. This tournament was definitely something rare and different! The early morning runaround to get everyone organized was well worth it when the players were out on the ice laughing and having a great time.

All in all, this is what team sports are all about. Enjoying new experiences together. The Burnaby Wildcats had a great time participating in the The Grouse Mountain Pond Hockey Tournament. It is something that will definitely be a highlight of the season and hopefully one that the players will reflect back on fondly whenever they think back to their time in minor hockey. The Winter Olympics are underway half a world away, but Team Czech Republic should know that they had a very worthy bunch of representatives playing for them here in Vancouver.

For more pictures from the 2014 Grouse Mountain Pond Hockey Tournament, check out our link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qihn5c2jynftr9y/54E_H8thr8#/


~ Jehan Jiwa