ABOVE: Unfavorable ice conditions on Lake Sisseton in Fairmont have prompted the annual Southern Minnesota Pond Hockey Championship to move indoors this year. The event will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Martin County Arena in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT– This weekend the Southern Minnesota Pond Hockey Championship returns for a weekend of hockey and camaraderie. Due to unfavorable ice conditions, the event is being moved indoors to the Martin County Arena in Fairmont.

Ian Bents, a long-time organizer of the event, shared that this is 13th year of the event, but the 11th year that it’s actually taking place. In 2020 in was cancelled as Covid was just starting to ramp up, and in 2021 it was postponed due to a blizzard but by the time the new date came around, an early thaw had taken place and the event was cancelled.

This year, ice conditions due to recent weather events have prompted organizers to move it from behind The Marina Lodge on Lake Sisseton to indoors.

“We knew we’d have a hard time. The ice was bare and then it snowed, then rained, then thawed and then it snowed again. The last batch of really heavy snow we got… we had full expectations it would be a real challenge to have the proper equipment and be able to move it,” Bents said.

In previous years organizers worried about ice thickness and safety concerns. That wasn’t the issue this year, but rather the condition of the ice.

“The day we went out there to start moving snow, there was a good 6 to 8 inches of snow and then 10 to 12 inches of slush. Moving that, it got so heavy so fast that we didn’t want to cause safety concerns. We were seeing water coming up and we stopped that pretty quickly,” Bents said.

The next day they checked out the area and saw there was still slush and the ice that was there was very white and porous. The process they’ve used for smoothing the ice in past years wouldn’t have helped conditions this year.

They also checked out the ice conditions on Hall Lake, where the event has been previously held, but saw conditions were no better there.

“It was disappointing but we need to control our controllables and shift our gears so that we can actually have it,” Bents said.

This is actually the fourth year they’ve had to hold it indoors and because it’s happened before, Bents said they had already cleared the arena calendar as a backup plan.

“This year we had one big decision. Do we want to carry on and have it indoors or not have it at all. It’s quite impossible to duplicate the ambiance outside. You’re overlooking all six ranks from the elevated shoreline at The Marina Lodge. It’s quite an amazing venue, especially at night when there’s teams playing games under the lights,” Bents said.

However, the fact that it was cancelled twice in recent yeas led organizers to choose to hold it nonetheless.

“It was critical that we keep the positive momentum that was reestablished last year and do it indoors,” Bents said.

In the other years it was indoors, Bents said they’ve still looked forward to it, but with the understanding that it wouldn’t be the same. Yet each year they’ve been surprised with how the community still shows up to support it.

“We try to make sure there’s an outdoor feel,” Bents said.

There will be pork chops on a stick as well as full concessions. There will also be a variety of apparel available for purchase with the event logo on it.

“It will still be a fun event. It’s a great opportunity for the community to come out,” Bents said.

A full day starts at 8 a.m. Saturday with the last game ending at 8:55 p.m. On Sunday games start at 10:40 a.m. with the championship games ending at 2:15 p.m.

The event is for players of all ages. On Saturday, Mites and Mini Mites, the youngest players age 4 to 8, will be playing between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Squirts will also play as well as a wide array of adult teams.

“There’s a lot of former players from Fairmont who come down from the cities. There’s also a number of new guys who are starting to pick up the game later in life that are coming from surrounding communities,” Bents said.

Usually there’s five to six rinks but with limited capacity indoors, there is only one rink to utilize. The rink will be cut into thirds and the youth will play width-wise. For older players, hard dividers will be used and the rink will be cut into half.

There is an open division, which is competitive but less intense, and the champion division which is higher intensity.

“Usually younger legs are running around in that one,” Bents said.

The event isn’t all for fun though. The Southern Minnesota Pond Hockey Championship has its own committee and is independent of the Fairmont Hockey Association, but supported by it. Funds raised from it go to support the association.

“Historically they’ve purchased new sets of equipment for kids to rent. We’ve also purchased ice time in Albert Lea for the association teams to skate before we have ice available here,” Bents said.

He also said they’re grateful for their sponsors, many of whom have supported them from the beginning.

Whether indoors or outdoors and no matter the temperature, the event is sure to bring in people and provide a weekend of fun right here in Fairmont.

“It’s been a really positive event for the community. It brings people from all over the place, especially spectators that have no relation to hockey at all. It’s a homecoming of sorts for a lot of players,” Bents said.