An Important Alumni Tradition Returns: Pond Hockey on Canaan Street Lake

Weekends are precious. Pulled in multiple directions, we all seek to balance work and play––time for family and friends, passion projects, adventuring, sleeping late, catching up on household chores. The way we choose to spend our weekends says a lot about what is important to us. And that’s what makes Cardigan’s annual Alumni Hockey Game so special. It’s a day once a year when Cardigan alumni set aside all other weekend commitments and come back to The Point to play hockey.

This year’s game took place outside on Canaan Street Lake under sunny skies. In plastic lawn chairs around a smokey fire pit in front of C.O.R.E. House, alumni pulled their gear from hockey bags bearing the logos of many well-known high school and collegiate teams; technically, these boys were amateurs but their passion for hockey runs deep and reflects the countless hours they have spent in practice and games on the ice.

Skates, gloves, and helmets on, they made their way down the winding path of ice to the rink, where Director of Alumni Relations Jer Shipman ’00 was ready to form two teams, randomly dividing the players’ sticks into two piles. Strangers became teammates, the old guard joined recent graduates; it seemed as if every decade of Cardigan hockey was represented.

Of course, pond hockey is nothing like its fast-paced indoor version with high boards to corral the puck and a full-sized goal to accommodate air-borne slapshots. Pond hockey is a slower game in which periodic breaks are needed to retrieve the puck from snow banks and no one seems certain of the score. 

It also wouldn’t be pond hockey if the ice was perfect. As the temperature rose above freezing on Saturday, the ice softened and even the best skaters found themselves sprawled across the rink and launched out of bounds. Five minutes into the second half, the game was stopped, for fear that serious injury might ensue. Fortunately, Cardigan takes pond hockey seriously and has not one but two rinks on the lake. Drifting snow was cleared from the edges, benches and goals were moved, and the game continued.

Strangers became teammates, the old guard joined recent graduates; it seemed as if every decade of Cardigan hockey was represented.

An equally important part of the Alumni Hockey Game occurs on the sidelines as current and former faculty gather, eager to connect with their former students. Even for those who have been faithful attenders of the game, it has been two years since they’ve all met on the ice (last year’s game was canceled due to the pandemic). In that time a new generation of Cougars has been born; they were there too, watching from the bench and playing in the snow.

When the second rink became too rough for skating as well, players called the end of the game and made their way to the C.O.R.E cabin for ribs, sliders, and an ample platter of Cardigan cookies––yes, they’re as good as you remember them. Awards went to MVPs Juno Cowan ’20 and Al Stevenson ’00, and trustee Jon Wakely ’75 gave a history lesson on Cardigan hockey, highlighting alumnus and former varsity coach Bruce Marshard ’64, P’20 who convinced former Headmaster Norm Wakely H’91, P’70,’73,’75 to take a chance on admitting a handful of boys from an old rink called Hockeytown, USA in Melrose, MA. 

As the sun dipped behind the trees and the temperature began to drop, the boys, both young and old, trudged back along the snowy path to the parking lot behind the big red barn. They loaded up their cars with soggy gear and tired children––some with some newly acquired alumni swag and an extra cookie or two. They will take with them their memories of a perfect New England afternoon and the connections they made with their brothers––a worthwhile way to spend a Saturday afternoon.