EAGLE RIVER, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Hundreds of amateur hockey teams are competing on Dollar Lake this weekend.
The Labatt Blue/ USA Hockey Pond Hockey National Championships have been going on in eagle river since Friday, and the games are not over yet.
Competitors from 30 states and over 1,500 players are fighting it out on 18 rinks.
For many teams, this isn’t their first time competing and it surely won’t be their last. Jonathan Lyzun and his team “Plan B” have played for the last nine years.
“To see everyone enjoying having a good time out here is great,” Lyzun said. “We want to keep the tradition alive so we’re gonna be back here for year ten as well.”
For other players, it is a way to reignite the same energy they had playing hockey as a kid.
“It gives seven grown men a chance to come out here and be like kids and have some good times,” Jason Daus said.
For both Daus and Lyzun it’s a long trip to Wisconsin, but the game is more than a competition for them. It’s a fun and exciting weekend with their friends.
“I would say and I think everyone around would say it’s not necessarily about the hockey part of it,” Director of Program Services at USA Hockey Katie Holmgren said. “But about the atmosphere and being on the lake with everybody.”
The semi-finals and championships will be taking place this Sunday from 9:00 A.M – 12:00 P.M on Dollar Lake.
