The U.S. Pond Hockey Championships will drop the puck for a fourth year starting tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. We remember just before the first go-round, in January of 2006 (at Lake Calhoun), when we interviewed the man behind the project, Fred Haberman. He was nervous about weather. He talked of the tournament as though it was his “obsession” and/or “mid-life crisis.” But he also said this: “I’m looking at a community coming together. It sounds so cliche, but we’ve tapped into a passion.”

Indeed. The event has grown into something people expect every year. It now features more than 250 teams in several divisions. It has been featured by all sorts of media outlets. There is even a theme song now, performed by The Frozen Carp. The event, we would say, has carved out a niche as a new Minnesota tradition. Key ingredients: hockey, proving we are tough by bearing the cold weather, and a large but non-threatening gathering of many people.

Now, though, we sneak a commenter draft into the mix: Minnesota traditions, sports-related or otherwise. If you run out of steam, please feel free to add any new projects you would like to see catch on.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.