World Pond Hockey Championships back on solid ice in Plaster Rock, N.B.

One player is pictured challenging another for the puck at the World Pond Hockey Championships in Plaster Rock, N.B. on Feb. 22, 2025.

The World Pond Hockey Championships returned to Plaster Rock, N.B., Thursday with games continuing throughout the weekend.

A solid stretch of cold weather greeted the 86 teams as they arrived on Roulston Lake.

“It’s the best ice I’ve ever seen,” said Kevin Tirschett, a player with the Texas Vikings.

“It’s great hockey, it’s a childhood dream.”

This is Tirschett’s 14th year participating in the event, which began in 2002.

“We don’t get to do this in Texas,” he said.

Teams from all across Canada are on the schedule, along with teams from the United States, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates.

The 2024 World Pond Hockey Championship had to be cancelled due to unseasonably warm weather.

This year’s event was on thin ice until a few weeks ago.

“Winter just seems to start later,” said Danny Braun, the event’s co-founder and organizer. “Here on New Year’s Day, there was no snow and maybe an inch and a half of ice on the lake. It looked really good from a distance but there wasn’t the thickness that you could go out on at that point.”

Braun said volunteers were only able to start clearing snow off the lake’s surface in early February.

“Fortunately, we got a few weeks of the winter we’re used to leading into the event,” said Braun.

The ice on Roulston Lake is close to 14 inches thick this weekend, said tournament officials.

Saturday morning’s schedule had 30 teams playing simultaneously on 15 ice surfaces. Each game lasts a half hour.

“The group of volunteers we have are just tremendous and the commitment they have,” said Braun. “They were out here this morning at 5:30 a.m. shaving the rinks and at 7 a.m. they put a flood on all the rinks.”

Zach McDonald plays for the Cape Cod Whalers out of Massachusetts. He said the ice is unbelievable.

“The best pond I’ve ever skated on is here in Plaster Rock,” he said.

The World Pond Hockey Championship continues until Sunday afternoon, with the Ladies Championship Game at 2:15 p.m. and the Open Division Championship Game at 3 p.m.

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