This past weekend, a group of us from South Florida flew up north to play in the 40+ division of the 2008 Lake Placid Pond Hockey Tournament. This is a photo diary of our epic adventure.
Leaving the (warm) Boca Raton, FL airport on the Embraer Legacy (thank you Stu!). From left to right, that’s John, Dan, Steve, Chip, Stu, and Laurent. Great, great guys all around.
Game 1 – we lost to the Chiefs from Boston – by a lot!
But we had a lot of fun. That’s Herb Brooks Arena in the background – where the Miracle On Ice occurred! And the game was on the Olympic Oval where Eric Heiden won five speed skating gold medals.
We lost game 2 to another team from Boston, but the score was much closer. Across the street, we do what the Prowlers do best! We were too tired to walk the 500 yards to the hotel, so we had to stop halfway for refreshments.
Game 3 was first thing in the morning. The ice was perfect and we beat up on a team from Massachusetts. They had the best sweaters in the tournament, but they were not happy to be whipped by some South Florida boys! The rest of the teams were real happy for us. Of course, no one is really from South Florida – we are originally from Maine, Boston, Montreal, Long Island, Connecticut, and California (me!).
In game 4 we lost a real close one to a team from Darien, CT. I heard they went on to win the silver medal. This is after the game – most people just don’t understand how friendly and nice most hockey players are. ALL the teams talked, hung out, and drank beer together all weekend. We were discussing it on the way home and most of us think it has to do with their upbringing and their parents involvement growing up playing hockey. Throw in the discipline and sportsmanship instilled by the sport, and that all adds up to solid, grounded people that are great to hang out with.
After hockey we went to the Olympic Jumping Center. To get to the top of the big 120 meter ski jump ramp, you take a chair lift to the top of the mountain THEN you take an elevator up 26 STORIES!!! It’s absolutely ridiculous how high these guys are when they start down the ramp.
We then went to the Olympic Sports Complex for a bobsled ride. The public starts halfway down the course, but you still go over 60 mph, pull 2 G’s, and get parallel to the ground in the turns! I almost puked. Highly recommended.
Where miracles happen! This is the inside of Herb Brooks Arena. The whole town was full of hockey – 40 teams at the pond hockey tourney, a high school prep tournament going on the three indoor rinks, and pick-up games on Mirror Lake. Everywhere you looked, there were people carrying sticks and bags all over town – it was the happiest place on earth! The bars saw a lot of action too.
Games went into the night. See the fire in the middle keeping people warm.
And if you didn’t get enough in your games, you could get more on the lake. The ice was too thin to hold the weight of the tournament games, so they moved those to the Oval, but there was enough ice for small groups to skate on.
On our last morning, we played a little pick-up before breakfast. The sun was out, and there was a light dusting of snow. We were too lazy to shovel a real rink out, but we had a blast!
We skated about a quarter mile down the lake – that’s the hotel way in the background. That’s Chip and me – a 15 year age difference – but Chip was skating like a kid that morning!
One happy dude! After 34 years of hockey – growing up in California – that’s the first time skating on a frozen lake.
Final shot from the hotel lobby before leaving for the airport.
Happy crew leaving on the Citation X for warmer weather. Even with the sore legs and backs, smiles all around!
Bloody Mary – breakfast of champions! Medically necessary to kill the pain in my lower back.
Three hours later – the radically different (and unfrozen) water of Palm Beach.
And three great reasons to come home!
More pics (if you can stand it) at Flickr.
Update: The AP did a cool little video on the tournament here.
