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Annual Pond Hockey Tournament on Life Support

The 2022 Canadian Pond Hockey Championships likely won’t go ahead as scheduled this year. The annual event is slated to begin on September 28 at Pinestone Resort, but organizer John Teljeur is almost positive he will have to cancel for the second consecutive year.

“I would say there is a 90 per cent chance we aren’t going to be able to do it, but I have to look at every option because I owe it to the players.” He adds that a decision needs to be made within a day or two for the necessary cancellations to be made, like the accommodations at Pinestone and the pond itself.

The event has created a unique relationship between the dozens of volunteers and hundreds of players, something Teljeur says he will miss seeing. “The players really appreciate the amount of work the volunteers do. Its not uncommon to see the skaters thank the helpers for their effort on a regular basis. We were all looking forward to getting back to some form or normalcy and doing something fun, so that’s a let down in itself.” He adds he is going to try again next year. “I will do everything I can to keep it going. This is our hot tub time machine weekend where the players have fun and do crazy things. Its so cool to watch that I can’t give up on it.”

The event provides financial support to Heat Wave Haliburton County, an organization that helps households throughout the County that run out of heat options each winter. Teljeur says he hope to be able to help somehow. “We weren’t able to do anything last year since we couldn’t get it off the ground. I brought the event back to Haliburton (in 2017) in order to contribute to the community. I’m not sure what I am going to be able to do, but I would like to try and do something.” The local economy will also take a hit as the 500 tourists normally spending money over two weekends won’t be in the area.

The first-ever event was held in Huntsville in 2006. Teljeur purchased the rights to the championships in 2016 from Neil Lumsden.

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