MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Pond Hockey Championships are underway on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis.
Nearly 300 teams and 3,000 athletes are competing in the annual event this year, including athletes from several states and countries.
“We have teams from Florida, California, Saint Louis, Canada, and other countries,” tournament director Jesse Delorit said.
The first games for the opening tournament began Friday morning and will continue through Sunday. A second tournament will start Friday, Jan. 26th and last through Sunday, Jan. 28.
The tournament, however, was off to a rough start this year because organizers didn’t know until Tuesday whether the City of Minneapolis was going to give final approval to host the tournament.
“We were all waiting to see if the lake was going to freeze over and if the city was going to check off on it. When we got the nod to move ahead with the tournament, we basically had 48 hours to get ready and we worked around the clock to get everything ready to go,” Delorit said.
The weather this weekend shouldn’t be a problem for rink managers, but Delorit says the following weekend is a very different story.
“We’re seeing some warmer temps ahead, but we’re just taking it one day at a time and watching the weather,” Delorit says.
For more information on this year’s U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, click here.
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