It's billed as a great way to get back to the roots of Canada's favourite past time, as well as bring hockey players from across the world together in a fun and active environment.

The 2006 World Pond Hockey Championships, which are being held in Plaster Rock, N.B. this week, feature more than 6,000 people from 12 Canadian provinces and territories, 26 U.S. States and a total of 12 countries worldwide.

The organizers of the tournament, which was first brought together in 2002, take in around 1,000 applications and narrow that down to just 120 accepted teams. Those teams are then placed into 20 pools of six, with each squad guaranteed at least five games in the round-robin, playing a four-on-four format.

There are 20 different outdoor rinks, with 20 different games going on at the same time.

One of the teams chosen for this year's world championships was the Yukon crew of Eric Hendricks, Mike Stewart, Mike Cousins, Peter Chisholm and Ed Horembala. The local squad played their first game Thursday evening, which they won 11-0.

'Ed decided he wanted to put a team together and we all just came along for the ride,' Hendricks laughed, in an interview from Plaster Rock this morning. 'It's really relaxed down here, at least we are. It's supposed to be for fun. There are a few teams here that are really serious, but most teams are here to have a good time.'

There's a 10-goal mercy rule at the tournament, which means no matter how many goals one team scores, it won't be reported as anything more than a 10-goal differential. So once the Yukoners were up on their competition Thursday, they all switched jerseys and played for fun, said Hendricks, who was asked how often he gets a chance to play outdoor shinny.

'Ah, never,' he laughed. 'It's been more difficult to adjust to this, but it's fun. There's no boards, just piles of snow around the rink. The nets are only three or four feet wide and 10 inches tall. And the ice is really, really rough and cut up.

'We play four-on-four for half an hour and there's no subs. There is a break between the two 15-minutes periods, though, so we can rest.'

Hendricks normally plays in the Whitehorse Recreation Hockey League for the Yukon Appliance Blues while Chisholm suits up for Boston Pizza. Cousins also plays rec hockey while Stewart used to coach.

'I don't think Ed has played in years,' said Hendricks good naturedly. 'In fact, I know he hasn't.'

There are some ex-professional hockey players at the world championships, as well as some people who 'make you wonder what they're doing here', explained Hendricks, so the games feature a lot of diversity. Hendricks said the Yukon crew is probably considered 'middle of the run.'

The top teams from each of the 20 pools automatically advance to the playoffs, as well as the next 12 best overall, then it goes into a single-elimination round.

Hendricks isn't sure the Yukon team will get that far, although if they keep getting performances like Stewart put in Thursday, it could happen.

'Mike Stewart scored all 11 goals for us last night,' said Hendricks. 'We were just sitting back, watching him.

'He's a machine.'

The teams are experiencing mixed weather in New Brunswick this week. For last night's game, they played through snowy conditions with a temperature of -15 C. Today, it's raining and -6.