Have you ever imagined playing in a competitive ball hockey tournament on an oceanfront rink on an island as beautiful as picturesque Bermuda?
That dream is now a reality with the first ever Bermuda Ball Hockey Classic being hosted from Sept 28th – Oct 2nd, 2017 by the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association!
Open division, $500 per team, minimum 6 games and more importantly than that –> the opportunity to hoist the inaugural Bermuda Cup! You better believe the pops would taste a whole lot sweeter in Bermuda after a championship win like that.
There have been rumblings in the international ball hockey community that Bermuda may be planning something big for 2018, and the Bermuda Ball Hockey Classic could be a great showcase to something bigger on the horizon.
Contact Mathieu Desjardins for more information (desjarde@hotmail.com) and the ISBHF both fully endorses, supports and congratulates the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association for stepping up to offer the International community the opportunity to participate in such an exciting, and rewarding, lifetime experience!
Overhead view of the newly constructed rink in Bermuda!
Beautiful view of the rink overlooking the horizon!
Another view with a nice view of the island in the background.
For further information on the BBHA, feel free read on for a great summary of the terrific history from Bermuda:
Ball hockey in Bermuda started in the 1980’s by a loosely knit group of die-hard Canadian hockey fans. Over the year’s guys would get together Saturday mornings to play pick-up hockey at an old converted outdoor roller-skating rink. The number of players on the Island had grown and in the late 1990’s the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association was officially formed.
In April of 2008, Tom MacNeil, the President of the Bermuda Youth Inline Hockey League, suffered a massive heart attack while participating in one of the inline hockey scrimmages at the old rink and passed away. Tom was heavily involved with various youth sports leagues around the island and had dreamed of having a proper facility for the kids/adult hockey leagues to help raise awareness of the growing sport in Bermuda. After Tom’s sudden passing there was a very successful fundraising campaign, which not only raised the funds required to do the renovations, but also raised awareness about the program. Finally, after years of paper work/permits and meetings, on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 the BBHA broke ground for the expansion of a new facility.
The new rink is 165 feet by 80 feet, and features fiberglass dasher boards. The rink features 4 ft galvanized chain link fence above the boards around the perimeter of the rink and 8 ft galvanized chain link fence along the end boards. On November 24th, 2012 the leagues celebrated the reopening of the rink. Since reopening the rink, the new facility has withstood multiple hurricanes that were a direct hit to the island with only damage to the lighting.
The BBHA has uses this world-class facility to assist with the development of Bermuda Ball Hockey Association’s National team, which represents Bermuda in the ISBHF events worldwide (International Street and Ball Hockey Federation). It didn’t take long for the new facility to pay off, just over 6 months since the reopening, Bermuda won the Gold medal in pool B of the ISBHF 2013 World championships in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, a huge part of the success of this tournament was having access to the new rink. After winning the Gold medal in pool B in 2013, Bermuda entered the A pool in the ISBHF 2015 World Championships in Zug Switzerland where they faced off against the best of the best in the sport. The BBHA has been a long time member of the ISBHF and competed at the 2017 World Championship in the host city of Pardubice, Czech Republic.
