inside

$7,500

Presented In

Sandy

Lake

Salute to

Local

Hockey

10

this week

Volume 133 Issue 49 Friday, February 19, 2016 www.minnedosatribune.com 90 cents plus tax

We acknowledge the fi nancial support of the Government of Canada

through the Canada Periodical Fund

of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

204.867.5550Evenings Available by Appointment

By JEFF PEARSON

Lake Minnedosa was the place to be last week-

end for the tenth annual Skate the Lake Outdoor Pond Hockey Tournament. Even though Old Man Winter was a formidable force to contend with over the weekend that did not stop these enthusiastic hockey players from lac-ing up for the annual chal-lenge. Th ere were 19 men’s teams, six ladies teams and 25 youth teams registered with hundreds of specta-tors cheering. Th e volunteer run, non-profi t pond hockey tournament takes place on the frozen ice of the Minnedosa Beach with several rinks prepared by the Town of Minnedosa. Th e tournament is a non-contact, four-on-four style format which features cus-tomized nets instead of goalies and special rules to ensure safety and fair play. Lake Minnedosa with its picturesque natural setting and facilities is the perfect venue for an event of this nature and is one of a kind in Manitoba. One of the founding members, Dan Johnson, recalls where the initial idea for Skate the Lake came from, “My wife Gay-lene was a member of the new childcare facility fund-raising committee in April 2006 when she brought home a magazine that had

a photo of a similar event thinking what a cool idea this was. We discussed that Minnedosa has the perfect venue for such an event and how much fun it would be to try this as a fundraising project for the daycare. We didn’t talk about this again un-til September that year when Gaylene said ‘are

we going to try this pond hockey thing or what?’ So we called a couple people and pitched our idea. We did some brainstorming and talked about ideas for the tournament and what type of support would be needed to pull this off and of course who we should bring on the organization-al committee.” Th e origi-

nal charter committee of Skate the Lake included the Johnsons, Scott and Arlene Demontigny, Wes and Tanis Barrett, Craig and Karen MacDonald, Chris and Kristen Wor-ley and Derrick and Trish Turner. Over the years, this amazing fundraiser has seen tremendous growth

from its fi rst donation of $2,700 in 2007 to last year’s whopping donation of $12,000. Th roughout its ten year run, Skate the Lake has given back over $60,000 to community projects.

Continued onPage 2

Skate The Lake Ten Years Strong

Photo by Jeff Pearson

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