The rink may have gotten smaller but so did the number of players on the ice, during the Flatwater North 3-on-3 Hockey Tournament on Saturday at the Lorne Mountain Community Centre.

This was the first tournament but it had been an idea in the works for a couple of years.

“This has been an idea of mine for the last three to four years,” said organizer and Flatwater North coach Daniel Girouard. “I coach in the Flatwater North group and thought this would be a good fundraiser.

“The idea came from, about six or seven years ago, they use to run a 3-on-3 tournament out at the Hidden Lakes. It hasn’t been running, so I thought we need to bring that back because a lot of people enjoyed it. And, I thought here (Mount Lorne Community Centre) because it’s awesome, and the setup is awesome.”

Girouard was pleased with the interest the tournament garnered.

“I’m super happy with the turnout,” said Girouard. “My goal was to get 12 teams out and that’s what I did. We had eight adult teams and four youth teams. I think everybody had a blast today. Hopefully, we can continue doing this in years to come.”

The rink at the community centre was divided into three, to accommodate the number of games. There were no goalies, instead, a net was fashioned out of wood, and it was just high enough off the ice for the puck to slide under.

On the shortened rink and smaller nets, the teams played in a triangle formation and focused on passing and their dangles to work their way towards the goal, before slipping it through.

In the adult championship game, The Squads took to the ice against The Racoons. In a fast-paced game which saw lots of scoring and impressive skills on display The Squads came out on top.

Hailey Garrod was on the winning side and says her side didn’t have much of a strategy to win, instead the team just wanted to have fun playing hockey together.

“Our strategy to win wasn’t much of a strategy,” said Garrod. “We just wanted to play hockey all day with our friends and that’s what we did. I rarely get to play with my fiancé and guy friends, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to play co-ed all together.

“The tournament was such a good time. They did a wonderful job organizing it all. (It was) such a great idea having an outdoor 3-on-3 tourney.”

The youth final went to a thrilling overtime frame which was eventually won by Flyers Rule off a shot that banked off the side of the wooden net and through to the other side.

Having the games outside gave it a distinctly Canadian feel to the tournament. Girouard says getting people outdoors is something important to him.

“I’m a really pro outdoor guy, and being active outside,” said Girouard. “I think people really appreciated that. I think it’s super important to get out because I think a lot of people spend to much time indoors. I’m really glad everyone is having fun.”