It has been about five years since I played hockey on a pond. I can remember as a kid playing on ponds, lakes, creeks and flooded fields that froze over during a cold spell. We used to skate on outdoors rinks on Algonquin Street in Park Forest, the park along the tracks in Flossmoor, the park at 183rd & Western Ave in Homewood and we played many a hockey game at Lansing's Lan-Oak Park. Before my senior year in high school, I easily played more hockey games outdoors than indoors. After our league game this past Thursday night, the McDonnell brothers were talking about playing in the Labatt's Blue Pond Hockey tournament in Wisconsin next week. That is when our goalie, Mike Deegan, told us about the rink he has on the pond behind his house. By the time we left the rink, we had invited ourselves over for a game on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny 20 degree winter day, perfect for a game of hockey. Mike had some chairs around a fire pit out on the ice with a case of beer sitting in the snow. We laced them up, a little trash talking and let the games begin. There were about 15 of us and we played 3 on 3 for the entire afternoon. Outdoor hockey, beers, chasing errant shots across the pond, taking off layers of clothing as the games heated up, friends telling pond hockey stories from their younger days. What a great way to spend a winter day.
Jim was asking me if I knew of any ponds he can take the boys to... Where is this?
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