Every generation cherishes childhood memories that will likely never fade. But over time, many of the things we remembered doing as kids, like just hanging out and playing on our terms without adult supervision, have been pushed aside.
Welcome to the world of organized youth sports. Gone are the days when you couldn’t wait to go to the park, buck up, and choose sides with the kids in your neighborhood.
In the winter, there was only one choice — you raced home after school, strapped on your ice skates, and skated till dark on the neighborhood pond.
Truth be told, the only time we’d see any adults was when our mothers drove to the park and dragged us off the ice, kicking and screaming.
Fast forward to the current century and some former Lynnfield High hockey players are clinging to an age-old North American tradition they swear by — pond hockey.
As kids, they grew up playing hockey on Pillings Pond. 2006 LHS grad Phil Anderson grew up just across the street on Thomas Road. He recalled that the neighborhood kids met up every day after school at the pond to match wits with “the crazy Pillings Pond lady with the dogs.”
“She always tried to kick us off like she owned the pond,” Anderson said. “We were only 10 or 11 or so, but it was nothing to walk down by ourselves. The minute the pond was frozen, we were there. Even to this day, depending on the weather, if it’s frozen, we have a group of about 30 guys and usually one guy will text everyone and we’re out on the ice.”
The group’s most ardent passion every year is heading north to Meredith, N.H. for the annual New England Pond Hockey Classic on Lake Winnipesaukee, a weekend-long event full of fun, music, family activities, and, yes, plenty of beer.
The Young Guns is the name of the team. Members include former LHS teammates Anderson, Brendan Costin, Kevin Maresco, Craig Morton, and Ryan Smith along with Mike Mondello, Ryan Heavey, and Matt O’Neill.
While last year’s classic was pure survival, with wind chills reaching -40 degrees, this year it was so warm the tournament had to be moved to the shallower Lake Waukewan to find safe ice.
More than 275 teams participated in 500 games on 26 rinks over three days. The tournament features a four-on-four format with no goalies. The rink is about a third of the size of a regular rink. The goals are tiny — two 6-inch-tall nets connected by a foot-long bar.
All ages are welcome. They play in brackets arranged by age and gender, and all contestants are playing to win the champion’s prize — a wooden replica of the Stanley Cup. The ultimate goal is to make it out of pool play and play on championship Sunday — and, ultimately, have their names etched on the trophy.
The Young Guns play in the Open Division, arguably the most competitive in the tournament. They’ve won it once (2020) and were hoping to add a second title this year, but came up short, losing in the final 4-3 in overtime to Grassy Pond. Conditions were brutal in a different sort of way compared to last year’s Arctic freeze, forcing a last-minute equipment change.
“There was so much slush but we opted to try to play in skates. We quickly realized they were chewing up the ice so we played in boots Friday. It wasn’t as bad as 2022, when it rained and they plowed the surface and the ice sank. But by Sunday it was cold enough to get back in skates,” Anderson said. “It was tough to lose, but still it was a great weekend.”
Maresco was the consensus MVP.
“He’s a different breed. He’s pushing 40 but still plays like he’s 19,” Anderson said.
The Young Guns have also competed several times in the the Lake Champlain Pond Hockey Classic in Vermont. In 2015, they headed northwest to Minnesota to play in the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship. Unfortunately, both of those tournaments were canceled this year due to mild weather.
Maresco, a 2004 grad, played a postgraduate year at Phillips Andover, two years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and two more at Manhattanville. He joined the Young Guns in 2015 and has been playing ever since.
“Last year was brutal, but we’ve had some good runs and it’s always a good time,” Maresco said. “But it’s just great being out there with the people you played with growing up. There’s a bit of nostalgia with such a cool backdrop and a different twist on the game playing with the little nets. We’ve had some good years with good ice and years when it’s a complete disaster. It’s a real crapshoot, but kind of fun because everyone is dealing with the same conditions.”
While tournament rules forbid checking, Maresco said there is often a little “boys will be boys” vibe.
“Some of the games get a little heated, especially on Sunday as rivalries develop over the years and people know us up there. You just don’t ever lose the competitiveness and games definitely can get intense as the goal always is to win the whole thing,” Maresco said.
“A lot of us still play men’s leagues out of Hockey Town, but being outside is so much more fun. I’m not sure how many there are, but I am definitely in it for as long as I can swing it,” he added.
Smith is one of the Youngest of the Guns, having joined the team in 2019. The 2008 LHS graduate played four years at Babson College. A highlight of his college career was playing against Norwich in one of the first Frozen Fenways. He plans to play pond hockey indefinitely.
“It’s hard to say what the best thing about pond hockey is, but I would say, number one, it’s fun to be outside competing with others who are also looking to have a good time playing hockey together again,” he said. “And it’s a great way to reconnect with old friends. It makes you feel like you’re still in your teens.”
So what else makes this pond hockey thing so addictive?
If anyone knows, it’s Nicholas Wynia and Tommy Haines.
Haines is one of the founders of Northand Films, an independent documentary film production company that has won awards for its hockey-themed productions, including its debut documentary “Pond Hockey,” a 2008 film with appearances by Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby that decried the fact that kids’ sports had lost the value of unstructured play.
A native of Iowa, Wynia is the founder of Story City Films.
A few years back, Northland commissioned Wynia to spend three weeks traveling around North America shooting photos for “Pond Hockey: Frozen Moments,” a picture book about pond hockey.
“I took a lot of pucks off the shins, but I learned it was as much about people getting together and fighting the winter blues, not so much about the game itself,” Wynia said.
Haines grew up in Minnesota and started playing hockey at the age of 5.
“The general lure for me has always been that these lakes, ponds, and rivers are frozen playgrounds for a few months, but the game is becoming more and more special as the winter season is shorter and shorter,” Haines said. “Each space we play on is so unique. It’s the camaraderie; it reminds me of my childhood when it was unstructured with no rules or systems.”
Haines said that when Northland Films produced “Pond Hockey,” he thought unstructured youth play in America had reached rock bottom.
“But now it’s gotten worse,” he said. “Even so, I continue to hope that parents learn the value of social importance of unstructured play, the kind kids get when they play pond hockey like we did.”
Maresco, Smith, and Anderson will continue playing and competing, hoping to bring back the elusive Stanley Cup. They agree that the best thing about playing pond hockey is the camaraderie, just being outside with the guys — and, of course, the beer.
The worst part of pond hockey?
“It’s playing pond hockey,” Anderson joked. “But we will absolutely be back in 2025. We’re just gluttons for punishment.”