CREEDE – With the new year approaching, Creede is gearing up for the annual Golden Pick Pond Hockey Tournament on Jan. 18 and 19. This annual event brings out the best of Creede in the winter as local and visiting teams gather for some good old-fashioned pond hockey underneath the formidable and beautiful caldera cliffs just north of town. 

The Willow Creek Drainage made for the perfect location for ice ponds and each year brings guests of all ages to the area to enjoy some time on the ice. The event will be celebrating 18 years of pond hockey this season and is the perfect way to spend those chilly winter days up in Creede watching tournaments play out for two full days. 

The event started when two local business owners felt it was high time to have some fun during the slower months in the small mountain town. Thus, the Golden Pick Hockey Tournament was born thanks to the efforts of Kip Nagy and Brian Brittain. Though the tournament started out small, it quickly gained popularity and now brings hundreds of people from neighboring states to Creede each year. 

In the years since the first tournament, the ponds above town have gone from mere recreational ponds to becoming a designated city park, suitably named for Creede’s unique mining history as Silver Ice Park. The City of Creede adopted the ponds during a series of meetings in 2015 and helped with funding that purchased several lights that now line the outer edges of the ponds to allow for late night skating. 

The ponds are lined with burn barrels to keep players warm and bleachers for cheering fans to enjoy the two days of friendly hockey fun. The ponds are at 8,900 feet elevation, adding an additional challenge to the tournament and its players. The views surrounding the rinks add an incentive to those who travel from all over the southwestern US to take part in the hockey tournament. Players from all walks of life travel to Creede just to enjoy the laid-back fun tournament that caters to all levels of experience. 

The tournament consists of two levels of competition and is set up in a way that ensures each participating team gets to play at least one playoff game by the end. The schedule is known to hockey enthusiasts as a round-robin format with a three-on-three team play. Registration is now open, so be sure to visit www.creedepondhockey.wordpress.com to get signed up.