Pucks on Ponds in Beijing

A couple weekends ago, Scott played in a pond hockey tournament at Houhai, which is a huge lake in the middle of Beijing. In the winter, the lake becomes an outdoor playground, with speed skaters mingling with teenagers zipping by on ice sleds and children playing in bouncy castles put up on the ice.

Pond hockey + cold weather = Wings hat all day.

Scott's Houhai team consisted of players from his regular hockey team, the Bulls, which plays every Sunday night. I hadn't been to one of his games yet -- mostly because they're far away and often late at night -- so I finally played the good wife and came to watch the pond hockey tournament. I brought along our Mandarin teacher, Hou Laoshi, because she had never seen a hockey game.

Many of the teams dressed up in costumes (there was a prize for best dressed team) and came from as far as Dalian and Shanghai to play in the tournament. Scott's team didn't win, but they made it pretty far in the five-hour tournament.

Who you calling a fairy??

Hou Laoshi adored the game, commenting on how fast it was and not boring, unlike other sports she'd seen. She even got a taste for the scrums and checking that happen; even though it was pond hockey and technically the game was check-free, a player from a Shanghai team ran Scott into boards, which we were standing by. Hou Laoshi's beer got rattled and spewed into her hair and onto her gloves. Luckily, Scott wasn't hurt and Hou Laoshi was laughing afterward. I think that's when she really started to like the game.

Scott's cheering squad, complete with Beijing hockey scarves! 

On the sidelines, dozens of Chinese players kept stopping by to see what this game played mostly by foreigners was all about. The final round drew quite the crowd. I overheard a few of them asking how the game was played and whether it was "ice golf," as one person put it (I mean, that's not a bad guess, really). I tried, in my poor Mandarin, to explain the rules as simply as possible, without getting into offsides and icing, which I swear I'll never be able to explain but know it when I see it.

Da team.

I loved getting to meet some of Scott's teammates. While the players span all ages -- there are some teams that have fathers and sons that play together -- most of the members are Canadian and grew up with sport but are now in China for a variety of jobs. At the end of the tournament there was a banquet for the whole league, complete with burgers, beer and comaraderie.

Cold, but having fun! 

I'm so happy Scott joined this league and still gets to play a sport he's loved ever since his dad taught him how to skate on outdoor ponds in Michigan. It was wonderful to know that pond hockey, wherever you are, can create some damn fun memories.