High-hopes for pond hockey championship after successful first year
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With his sights set on the future, a co-chair of the giant pond hockey tournament is hoping the event held on Chestermere Lake can turn into a flagship event.
Alex Halat, who co-chaired the championship alongside former Calgary Flame Rhett Warrener, called the event an “overwhelming success.”
“(We saw) smiles on every kid’s face coming off, regardless if they won or lost — it was awesome,” he said.
“With the volunteer base we have in our city, I wouldn’t put any event past them. The most important thing is that the kids are seeing this, so we have a lot of youth coming out that want to volunteer as well and be a part of such an event.
“In the next five or 10 years to see what these kids do to surpass what we’ve done, that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
In total, 61 teams in 12 divisions took part in the tournament that saw skaters play on a dozen rinks on Chestermere Lake. Next year, Halat said they hope to bring in as many as 75 teams, after having to turn away nearly 40 this year.
“If we can just grow it a little bit year by year, hopefully we can raise some funds for other charities,” he said, adding on Friday they had “well over 4,000 people” attending the games.
“I’ve talked to a couple of ex-teammates (who live in Italy and Germany) of mine and they’ve got some younger kids that play. We were chatting through social media and next year they’d like to bring their kids out.”
The three-day championship, a first of its kind event in the Calgary area, grossed roughly $50,000 to $60,000, but they still have to go through their costs, Halat said.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Children’s Cottage, Synergy Chestermere and the Veterans Food Bank of Calgary.
“Being it’s our first year, we were learning as well,” said Halat, adding they got lots of feedback on recommendations for next year’s event.
“It was a pretty good start for our first year.”
Email: zlaing@postmedia.com | On Twitter: @zjlaing
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