Sharpen the Skates, the Ice is Clear

SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Lake turns hockey town Jan. 8-10 for the sixth annual Seeley Lake Pond Hockey (SLPH) Tournament. While much of the tournament remains the same, this year participants and fans will have online access to the schedule and tournament standings. Local children are also invited to skate with the Missoula Maulers Wednesday, Jan. 6 starting at 5 p.m. on the rinks on Seeley Lake in front of Lindey's Prime Steak House.

The tournament started from a group of locals who would get together every year to play "broomball" in Seeley Lake.  Since these humble beginnings, the tournament is now a USA Hockey sanctioned tournament.

This year there will be 42 teams with players from multiple states and Canada. They will compete in four divisions including A, B, Women's only and Co-recreational for the chance to have their name engraved on the SLPH Cup.

This year the biggest change is the accessibility of information for the teams and the public. SLPH Event Coordinator Megan Lindemer said they teamed up with Sport Ngin to bring up-to-date information about registration, tournament scheduling and results available on http://www.seeleylakepondhockey.com starting Jan. 8

"In the past, it's been hard to keep everyone informed," said Lindemer. "This allows us to post notifications and teams can see when and where they play and if the games are on time."

For the past five years, Tom Monaghan did all the scheduling and posting of the scores by hand. Using Sport Ngin will allow the organizers to focus on other details of the tournament and hopefully alleviate many of the questions and confusion from the players when things need to be changed.

Lindemer added that if members of the community or fans are following a particular team, this will be an easy way to keep track of when they play and how they are doing in the tournament.

Teams of five to six players will play on four different lit rinks. Tournament organizer Mike Lindemer started plowing the rinks with his four-wheeler just before Thanksgiving and has put more than 250 miles on his ATV. While the snow in mid-December proved to be a challenge with water pushing up over the top of the rinks, the cold weather allowed the Lindemers to flood the rinks and they are now in "great condition" according to Lindemer.

There will be warming fires on the ice all weekend and the beer tent will be located on the ice on Saturday. The Front Brewery of Great Falls created a special British ale for this year's Pond Hockey Ale. The beer will be served during the event and is available on tap at most local establishments.

Each team is guaranteed one game on Friday, two games on Saturday and at least one game on Sunday. The championship game will be Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The BAMP's from Great Falls went undefeated in the A Division last year and will be back again this year. MilesofRod.com from Missoula, Mont. will defend the B Division title. The Whitefish Wailers of Whitefish, Mont. will attempt to hold onto the Women's title and Frosty Boxes from Missoula, Mont. are back for the Co-Rec Division. The first place winners in each division get their name added to the cup and receive individual SLPH trophies.

Everyone is invited to watch the games free of charge. There will be a silent auction inside Lindey's beginning Friday and running through Sunday at 12:30 p.m. as well as SLPH apparel available for purchase. A variety of items will be up for auction and include a plane flight around the Valley, golf bag, booze cooler, SmartWool® coats, binoculars, wooden bowl, lamps, hockey gear and much more. All proceeds from the tournament will benefit Seeley Lake Elementary school and Missoula Youth Hockey.

The Lindemer family, Brett Nogay and Dave Lapham are operating this year's tournament. There are multiple ways to volunteer at the tournament from serving beer in the beer tent to working as a timer or scorekeeper during the games. If interested in volunteering, contact Volunteer Coordinator Lynn Mitchell at 210-1967. For more information and for the schedule visit http://www.seeleylakepondhockey.com