USA Hockey Adult Hockey

Two teams from Gurnee, Illinois, have been traveling to the annual Labatt Blue/USA Hockey Pond Hockey National Championships for a number of years.

After hearing so much about the good times those guys had each year in Eagle River, Wisconsin, some younger players in town wanted to make sure they made it up this year.

So a third Mighty Drunks squad came up to Dollar Lake in February.

“I’ve heard stories, and it’s just amazing,” said Mighty Drunks team member Anthony Butera. “Just being out on the pond all day, throwing back some beers and just lovin’ it. They don’t stop talking about it. We play with all of them back home, too, so it’s just constantly hearing about it every day. We were just counting down the days when we all came up.”

The Mighty Drunks grew up playing together on the same high school team, but now as adults they live in different areas. They wanted to reunite once they were able to play in the pond hockey tournament.

“We kind of waited for our last teammate to turn 21 and we all just decided, ‘OK, let’s do it now. We’re all 21, so let’s go out there and do the Labatt Blue tournament,’” Butera said. “Get out there where the game originated on the pond and hopefully win it.”

The Mighty Drunks, who brought seven guys, played in the highly competitive Bronze 21+ Division and did well in their first year, going 2-1. However, they came up just short of advancing to the playoffs.

The guys were hoping to take away a lot of memories and have fun with lifelong friends.

“Just getting the squad back together,” Butera said. “It’s always a great time going out, having fun with the boys. Just loving life.”

“Win or lose, I still had a blast this weekend,” team member Mike Schumacher said. “The city’s been great, the town’s been fun. I think the event is great.”

The guys quickly found the pond game is different from what they’re used to in their weekly indoor adult league.

“It’s a different style,” Butera said. “It’s not so much north and south, you’ve got to just move the puck. It’s all a passing game and just dishing the passes out as much as you can.”

The guys came into the tournament having a good idea what they wanted to do. The other, more experienced Mighty Drunks players gave them advice on the best tactics to use during a game.

“We just had the strategies from the other teams,” Butera said. “They kind of just brought it up and said, ‘This is what you guys have got to do.’ We’re all somewhat decent hockey players and we played together going up, so we kind of had the team chemistry and just kind of went with it.”

The Mighty Drunks knew they wanted to keep a goalie back in net at all times — something some teams at pond don’t necessarily do.

“With a small ice surface like this, it basically comes down to man on man,” Schumacher said. “We wanted to play man-on-man style defensive zone, maybe go into a little zone, do a diamond.”

The Mighty Drunks like to play a well-rounded game with plenty of offense to go with a strong defensive plan.

“I think as a crew we’re all kind of defensive-minded hockey players,” Schumacher said. “But it comes down to goal differential, so obviously you want to put a lot on the board.”

Getting a taste of playing in the 280-team pond hockey tournament is something the Mighty Drunks loved. They won’t miss a beat registering for next year’s event.

“It’s definitely going to be a tradition now,” Schumacher said. “I’m already taking off work for next year.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.