Watch this documentary on pond hockey

With the Winter Classic on tab tomorrrow in Boston, I thought it would be a good time to post this link to a feature-length documentary called "Pond Hockey."

The film is posted on Hulu and is described as chronicling the "the changing culture of hockey from the open ice to climate-controlled arenas."

I just started watching. It's great. The first part of the film involves the U.S. pond hockey championships, which are held in Minnesota. At the front end of the movie, there's some great footage of a game and a testimony to a pond hockey tradition -- the post-game bonfire.

After my Wednesday clinic last night, I was just talking to one of my classmates and we agreed how frustrating it often is to live in a warm climate and not be able to walk outside to the local park to practice hockey. Most of us on Wednesdays are at that stage where we just need to noodle around for hours to learn some of this stuff and that's hard to do given limited stick time hours locally.

Anyway, watch the movie. It's great. And Happy New Year and may all your hockey dreams come true next year.

--Steve Hymon