LAC LA BICHE – While the signature car ice races and aircraft fly-in were cancelled for the 2025 Lac La Biche Ice Festival due to warm temperatures and as much as two inches of water on the icy surface of Lac La Biche Lake, the event saw the return of the Rob McCormick Memorial Lac La Biche Kinsmen Pond hockey tournament after a five-year hiatus.
However, the warm weather and wet conditions forced the one-day sporting event on March 1 to be held inside of Lac La Biche’s Bold Centre, instead of outdoors.
Nick Brown, a member of the Kinsmen Club of Lac La Biche and chair of the pond hockey tournament, said the decision to move the event indoors came on Feb. 27.
Organizers checked the ice conditions, which were unsuitable for safely holding the pond hockey tournament on. When speaking with the Lakeland Today, a day before the event got underway, Brown said the stagnant water on the lake’s surface had saturated into the ice, which in turn made the ice slush.
Everything that had been scraped and made smooth for the tournament, he added, was disintegrating. Even with colder weather.
During the 2018 Winter Festival of Speed, organizers were forced to relocate the pond hockey tournament to the Bold Centre not because of slushy and wet conditions, but due to extremely cold temperatures.
While organizers had their sights set on playing the hockey games outdoors, Brown is grateful the Bold Centre was available.
“I think it’s great that we have a facility that can host us. Obviously, the hope is to be outside, but I’m just glad kids still get to play hockey and be active,” he stated.
The Rob McCormick Memorial Lac La Biche Kinsmen Pond hockey tournament was last held in 2020, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament is for young hockey players in the U7 and U9 levels and is played in a round robin-style format with a three-game guarantee for each team.
Over 100 players from Lac La Biche, St. Paul, Saddle Lake, and Irma signed up to play in this year’s tournament.
“It’s an intro to hockey, so scores are not kept . . . there’s no trophies,” he stated.
The hockey tournament is named in honour of Rob McCormick, who passed away in 2016.
Brown described McCormick as an incredible community supporter, who was a life member of the Lac La Biche Kinsmen club and a “true believer in just making the game fun for kids and accessible for kids.”
McCormick and his daughters were instrumental in starting up the tournament, with the first event taking place in 2010.
“It’s important to remember the legacy Rob has left us,” Brown said.
Emery Yurdiga, a member of the Lac La Biche Clippers U9 team, was one of the local players who participated in the inside pond hockey tournament, which he said was fun to play in.
When asked what he likes about playing hockey, seven-year-old Yurdiga said, “I can score lots of goals.”
