A wind chill of minus-20 greeted Father Michael Daly and his hockey team, the St. Helena Crusaders, as they began play Jan. 21 at the 17th annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis.
Father Daly, who played high school hockey for St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, recruited seven men for his roster, all of whom are Catholic and played hockey at the high school level or beyond. Pond hockey is played on a smaller rink without goalies. The game employs small, flat goals boarded in front with holes on each side. Teams play two 15-minute halves, rather than three 20-minute periods.
Among the players on Father Daly’s team are his younger brother, Patrick, and brother-in-law, Brian Borg. It was Father Daly’s first time competing in the tournament, which ended Jan. 23 with the championship game and drew 120 teams from around the U.S. and Canada. He wasn’t used to playing in such extreme cold, but Father Daly and his team adapted and defeated a team called the Mighty Drunks from Nashville, Tennessee, in the first round, 12-2. The St. Helena Crusaders then won their next eight games and captured the championship with a 9-4 win in the finals, which earned them the Silver Scoop trophy.
“We just love to play,” said Father Daly, parochial administrator at St. Helena. “I had three Under Armours on and had the neck warmer and the hat under the helmet. I came prepared.”
Scoring goals and winning games were important for the team, as the tournament was also serving as a fundraiser for building a new adoration chapel at St. Helena. The former baptismal chapel is being remodeled with an altar containing a relic of what is believed to be the true cross of Christ, which, according to legend, was found by Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, in 324.
The chapel will cost about $112,000, Father Daly said, and the parish is halfway there. Success in the tournament is keeping pledges and donations coming. As of Jan. 24, the day after the tournament, more than $5,000 had been raised, he said.
“There were a lot of variables we had to adapt to, like frigid temperatures and tough ice conditions with huge cracks and ice fishing holes,” Father Daly wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit after the tournament. “I also had to miss part of a game to celebrate the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Helena, but the team stepped up and continued winning.”
