Pond Hockey tournament makes return to Clinton Square
Pond Hockey tournament makes return to Clinton Square
Sixteen local teams find fun and camaraderie as they take the ice for community charities.
For most ice hockey players, skating without lifting the puck above the knees, playing without a goalie, and can only utilize reduced-size rinks would be classified as a nightmare. However, when the game is being played outdoors, three-on-three and there’s a 12-pack of beer on the bench between shifts, it becomes easier to cope.
That is the environment fostered at the Syracuse Pond Hockey Classic. An event that is just as much about community as it is about the games, otherwise a 37-4 game wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining.
“It’s a different game out here,” Neal Purcell, the Bearcats’ team captain, says. “You don’t have the same five-man structure … but it’s still a lot of fun.
“It’s about being outdoors, playing in the cold, and getting back to the roots of the sport.”
For Purcell and his friends, this event presents a chance to reunite each year, often calling up former teammates to join in on the action.
“We’re a defunct high school team,” Purcell said jokingly. “We just bust out the old uniforms and try to bring back some memories.”
At the heart of the Syracuse Pond Hockey Classic is the people. Many of the players, like Purcell, grew up together in what he called Syracuse’s “tight-knit hockey community” and also brings people in from out of town.
Purcell’s team, for example, consists of old high school players.
“We’ve got guys who come in from Boston, Buffalo — you name it —and we all just come together for the weekend,” he said. “It’s awesome.”
This sense of togetherness extends beyond any hockey game. A portion of the event’s proceeds benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the Luke’s Army Pediatric Cancer Research Fund.
Established in honor of Luke Ungerer, a vibrant young boy who passed away in 2016 after a courageous fight with a rare brain tumor. While the fund supports vital research into pediatric cancers, the organization highlights Luke’s legacy and how his kindness was unwavering while living life to the fullest —encouraging those who attend the event to emulate his character.
“It’s definitely grown over the years,” event director Tim O’Donnell said. “It started more as a neighborhood thing in Strathmore, where I live, but now we’ve moved it downtown, and it’s just taken off. We get people coming in from all over now, and it’s got an energetic vibe that we’re really happy about.”
This marked the sixth year of the event and the fourth tournament, but what truly sets the Syracuse Pond Hockey Classic apart is its atmosphere.
“We’ve got plenty of food and drinks and cocoa and games for kids and families,” O’Donnell notes. Even though hockey is the main spectacle, there’s free S’mores, drinks on tap, food trucks, and yard games for spectators to enjoy as well to ensure everyone is entertained.
“It’s just a nice community event to kind of bring people together and, otherwise, people would be inside.”
Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse hosted the event the last two years.
“It’s nice to have it downtown where people can pop in and out.” O’Donnell notes. “There’s bars, restaurants, and places to warm up—something we didn’t have when we were at the lake.”
The Syracuse Pond Hockey Classic, as much as it is competitive, is a celebration first and foremost of the winter season and the community. Whether that entails playing, spectating, or simply catching up with friends over a beer by a heat lamp because it’s 18 degrees outside, the event encapsulates and highlights the great things about Central New York and its community bond.
