World Pond Hockey Championships

Earlier this month, 320 players gathered in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, to play hockey the old-fashioned way in the third annual World Pond Hockey Championships.

The three-day tournament is a fundraiser to help replace the village’s indoor ice rink. Teams consist of four players who play for a wooden replica of the Stanley Cup made by a local craftsman, Ab Beaulieu.

There were 80 teams this year -- up from 64 last year and 40 the year before that. Organisers have had inquiries from about 50 new teams that want to play next year, among them groups from Egypt and Bermuda.

Many of the teams this year were local but there were also teams from Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as four teams from the United States -- one from Boston and three from around Washington.

The team that travelled the farthest was the West Coast Pine Riders, from Vancouver, British Columbia. The team from the farthest north was the Cluckin' Puck Loggers, who drove three days from Sioux Lookout, Ontario. The oldest team was the River Boys. The most photographed team was the Chiefs, from Moncton, New Brunswick, who wore long wigs (in the style of the Hanson brothers, from the movie ''Slap Shot'') and hammed it up shamelessly, distributing complimentary beers to onlookers. The sentimental favourites were the Royal Rebels, a women's team from Plaster Rock, consisting of a schoolteacher, a student, a bus driver and a cook.

The winners were the Boston Danglers, who are really Canadians, as some locals were quick to point out (they met while playing for Merrimack College, in Massachusetts, in the mid-90's, and have since settled there).