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There’s a big game being played this weekend, and no, I’m not talking about football. The US Pond Hockey Championship is being held in Lake Nokomis, Minnesota. That’s right, pond hockey. Outside, in the frigid air, baby! The way hockey should be played.

Those dudes who play inside? We know they just aren’t as tough as pond hockey players. They can’t take a beating.

Pond hockey pre-dates indoor hockey by at least a hundred years. People filled up a rink or just played on whatever frozen water they could find outside. The game actually goes back to the 1700s, and the whole world championship thing goes back to 1883. That’s a full ten years before the Stanley cup was first played.

Pond hockey is very quick, and you need to be an accurate passer because if you aren’t… you’ll be digging for the puck in the nearby snow pile. Kind of like how I play golf, except that looking for a puck means you are outside with your hands in piles of ice and snow, looking for the puck so your team can play. Not good.

There are no goalies in pond hockey, probably because if you’re outside and not moving, you’ll freeze your butt off. So you’ve gotta work as a team to make sure that the opponent doesn’t get a goal on you. Also, the goal is teeny tiny, barely taller than the puck.

There have been plenty of movies about outdoor hockey, I remember a really bad one with Russell Crow, but to see a championship live would actually be pretty cool. I think some of the Vikings fans, who weathered a crappy season, midseason coaching change, and stadium roof collapse, should drown their sorrows by getting out in the fresh Nordic air and cheering on the pond hockey teams. Viva la pond hockey!