GENERAL INFORMATION
WHAT TO EXPECT
After a somewhat challenging 2017 tournament, a few players from a favorite team, "Pond Hancock," gave us some great advice. We cannot quote them directly, as drinking and colorful language was involved, but the essence was,"tell players exactly what to expect, good and bad, and most players will understand when things don't go their way."
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THIS IS POND HOCKEY ... not a rink; conditions happen, many of which are beyond our control. Yes - we do everything we can to make things better, but sometimes conditions do not cooperate. Hoses freeze, cracks happen quicker than we can repair them, and flooding does not fix everything ... and as we learned our first year, it can sometimes make things worse.
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PLAYERS MAKE THE TOURNAMENT As tournament organizers we work hard to ensure players have a great time; however, we quickly realized what has the biggest impact on player enjoyment is up to you! When you show up for the right reasons, fun ensues: To have fun playing a great game, to raise money for a great cause, to hang out with great people. Yes, we have some cool trophies, and everyone loves to win, but if that's the reason you are signing up, you are missing out on what pond hockey, and this tournament, is all about. The Nova Scotia team that brought a "Gift Pack" (with great swag) for each opponent get it ... be like them.
"THAT GUY/GIRL" RUINS GAMES, and the tournament. Every team has THAT GUY/GIRL who
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argues or complains about every call.
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thinks they are auditioning to be an enforcer.
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thinks chirping everyone on the ice is part of the game.
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takes it personally every time someone bumps them while playing the puck.
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is still trying to make up for that OT empty netter they missed that cost their HS team a state championship.
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If you still don't know who THAT GUY/GIRL is, there is a good chance you are THAT GUY/GIRL.
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If you are desperate and you need to bring them against our best advice, keep them in check, or we will give them the boot!
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"OTHER TOURNAMENTS DO IT DIFFERENT" Yup, they do, good for them. We have no problem with suggestions to make our tournament better, but every tournament has their own strengths and weaknesses. If you have an idea to make us better, share it, if you have an idea to make us the same as someone else... we will pass.
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PLAN TO HAVE FUN and everything will go as planned. It's that simple, don't over complicate it. Dealing with all of the elements, it's very rare that everything goes as planned, and trust us, when things don't go the way we planned, it's WAY worse for us. So plan to have fun, no matter what happens, and we guarantee you will.
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WE ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING IT RIGHT Know that when something does go wrong, we will do everything we can (within reason), to make up for it.
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IF IT WERE EASY, EVERYONE WOULD DO IT. There's a reason there have been so many one year only pond hockey tournaments. It's not easy, but it's worth it. There's nothing more rewarding for us than giving players an opportunity to play hockey in it's purest form.
WE NEVER TURN AWAY HELP Again, we are open to suggestions, but you know what works WAY better than suggestions -- ACTION. As a non-profit fundraiser, we rely heavily on volunteer support, the more help we have, the better our tournament runs for everyone.