The World Pond Hockey Championship hosted annually in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick has been cancelled for 2020. In it what would have been its 20^th anniversary, the tournament has decided to postpone celebrations a year due to COVID-19. Organizing committee president Danny Braun told CBC “At the end of the day, with COVID-19 lingering around still, obviously, rules and regulations as they pertain with travel would make it very difficult for anyone outside the Atlantic bubble at this point to come into the event in February.”   

The tournament attracts close to 200 teams from across the country as well as the world having participants from various parts of the United States, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The tournament has sparked participants from Slovakia and the Czech Republic to start a similar event in their home country. They have an agreement with the NB tournament to send 9 participating teams from Czechoslovakia to Plaster Rock each year. 

In an article written by John Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter in 2006 they mention that legacies are the greatest attraction of sports mega-events and that “they create the ‘allure of global games’ – perhaps especially for developing economies.” What about small-town events and their legacies? This tournament started small, eventually growing its reputation into an event known around the world. Its cancellation hurts Plaster Rock and surrounding areas, the businesses, and the people who enjoy getting out, being social, and meeting people from parts of the world they have or haven’t been. I am optimistic that when they do get to host the 20^th anniversary tournament that it will be the best one yet!

Kaleb21 

Featured image: Over the course of its 20 years the World Pond Hockey Championship in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick has grown in popularity attracting teams from across the globe. (Source: Brian Atkinson, Wikipedia)