Despite the nearly crippling cold, players laced up and took to the pond Feb. 8 for Canadian Hockey Enterprises鈥� pond hockey tournament, hosted at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
Chad Cavanagh, who works for Canadian Hockey Enterprises, said the Ontario-based hockey company has been running tournaments in Alberta for a while now, but were looking for a new challenge in Jasper.
鈥淭he response was amazing,鈥� he said, adding that last weekend鈥檚 tournament on Mildred Lake was an encouraging sign of possible things to come.
Twelve teams signed up for the weekend of four-on-four action, competing in three divisions鈥攚omen鈥檚, junior men鈥檚 and men鈥檚 recreational.
Cavanagh said his company organized this year鈥檚 tournament at the 鈥渓ast minute,鈥� and the response was still fantastic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e sort of trying to build it into a 30-40 team event that will happen each year,鈥� he said.
With the success of this year鈥檚 trial, Cavanagh said he would like to see the tournament become a big yearly event in Jasper, saying the town has potential to host 鈥渁 big annual Alberta cup.鈥�
Even though they started small this year, Cavanagh said that with the positive response from the participating teams and the cooperation of their hosts, there鈥檚 no reason that couldn鈥檛 happen.
Trevor Nichols
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