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Playing Hockey for Charity

Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis is the setting for the biggest outdoor pond hockey tournament in the history of the US. The tournament is scheduled to take place for three days between Jan. 20-22, 2006. The tournament will feature 128-team, four on four competition for men and women invites outdoor hockey enthusiasts nationwide to participate. Initiated by a group of passionate pond hockey enthusiasts, USPHC seeks to draw attention to the traditions of outdoor hockey and to support important causes.

The USPHC will be the largest outdoor hockey tournament of its kind in the U.S., and the first to feature a women`s championship division. Each team will be guaranteed three round-robin games with the opportunity to continue on to the medal round for a chance at winning the Pond version of the Stanley Cup - the "Golden Shovel." A percentage of proceeds will benefit the Herb Brooks Foundation and DinoMights Inner City Youth Hockey.

Teams will carry six players, with games being played in a four-on-four, no goalie format. Games will be two 17.5-minute halves with a two-minute intermission. Rinks will be cleared in true pond fashion - shoveled off prior to games by the two teams on deck. Official rules will be no checking, fighting or lifting, and goals must be scored on the attacking side of center ice.