We had an amazing weekend at the Jasper pond hockey tournament

This past weekend, we took a small crew down to Jasper to participate in the pond hockey tourney at Lake Mildred, and I can’t even begin to express how much fun we had.

If you’ve never been to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge before, there really couldn’t be a more beautiful location for a pond hockey tournament and it truly set the stage for what was an incredible weekend. Right from the moment we arrived, the staff was incredible to deal with and made sure we were up to date with everything we needed to be able to not only enjoy our stay but also to turn the event into something people would remember.

On night one, the festivities got started with a hilarious Hot Stove hosted by Caroline Szwed and the On The Bench boys. If you’ve never had a chance to check out the OTB crew or the content they create, you have to go check them out because those boys were absolutely hysterical. Before the Hot Stove started, Caroline asked the boys if they wanted to see the questions beforehand, and like the true champions they are, they refused to prepare anything ahead of time and shot from the hip in a way that only they can. They had the whole room howling with laughter and I could not have thought of a better way to break the ice and get the weekend started.

Not only did the On The Bench boys bring the house down at the Hot Stove, but we also introduced them to our contest winners that won a spot to play with them in the tournament, which was an incredible prize considering how amazing they were to hang out with. Again, I couldn’t think of two bigger beauties to have around for the weekend and they added another flavour to the whole event that was absolutely needed and welcomed.

The next morning, the Oilersnation team had a very busy day as we were not only playing in three games but also trying to figure out how to crank out our regularly scheduled programming. Yet, even though we were all feeling rushed about the compressed schedule — I had to write the GDB and my betting article while Tyler and Caroline did the Giant Pre-Game show — we kept finding ways to get things done. And thanks to the incredible staff at the Jasper Park Lodge, Tyler and Caroline got to produce a pre-game show that neither of them will forget in one of the most spectacular settings you could ever imagine.

As much as the pre-game show went down perfectly, I’m not so sure the same can be said about the dance moves that followed shortly after. See for yourself.

See what I mean? And before you ask, no I’m not in this video anywhere but I absolutely would have won this thing had I been.

As for the hockey tournament itself, Team Oilersnation — Team Play La Bamba in your guide and record book — finished the tourney at 3-1 which was good enough to lock down third place overall. For a team that hadn’t played together even once before the tournament began, I’m proud to say that we united as a squad and locked in enough ‘W’s to land a medal when it was all said and done.

 

Lastly, I just want to wrap this up by saying thank you so much to Tourism Jasper, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, and Canadian Hockey Enterprises for organizing a tournament that was absolutely spectacular in every way. From the ice to the accommodations to the staff to the teams that entered to play and everything in between, this was an event that I can’t say enough about, and I’m already fired about getting back down there next year to do it all again. We went into this tourney with high hopes for a good time and those expectations were exceeded in every way, and I’m truly grateful for everyone that had a hand in putting this thing together. What an amazing weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. See you next year.