Pavilion Cup features more than fun on ice
Published Thursday February 4th, 2010
Entertainment: Event offers barbecues and lots of music - and you can use free bus service
SAINT JOHN - By Friday afternoon, the sound of blades cutting the ice and sticks slapping pucks will fill Lily Lake.
Pond hockey will be the focus at the Tim Hortons Pavilion Cup, but organizers say there will be something for everyone.
After the opening ceremonies Friday, Tim Chaisson and his band take to the stage at 7 p.m. At 8:30, musician Dave Miles, who is also a member of the three-time world champion pond hockey squad the Wheat Kings, will open for Jimmy Flynn.
Flynn's show gets underway at 9:30 p.m. and tickets are $10.
"It's going to be a wonderful night," Flynn said from Halifax.
Last year, funds raised at the event sent 300 children, who might otherwise not have such an experience, to a summer camp at Rockwood Park.
"Anything I can do to help the kids," Flynn said.
The Stanfields, called a mix of punk-music legends The Clash and country-pop troubadour Steve Earle, will play a free concert Saturday night.
The concerts all happen inside the pavilion, says, Cathy Taylor, the facilities manager at the Lily Lake Pavilion, who is also a member of the tournament's entertainment committee. She said the weekend's entertainment should offer fun for everyone.
The pavilion's deck will be licensed with room for hundreds of spectators, Taylor said.
"There's going to be barbecues, picnic tables and music - just a real fun atmosphere out there."
Saint John Transit will provide free bus service from the old Downey's parking lot and McAllister Place beginning Friday from 2 to 10 p.m., on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. and on Sunday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The Lansdowne Place Tim Hortons will also provide a free shuttle bus service from its location to Lily Lake throughout the weekend.
With the new layout of the park and the free bus service, Taylor said organizers have addressed last year's traffic snarls.
"There's lots of ways to get here and it's vastly improved from last year," Taylor said.
"There's things going on all weekend. You just have to come down and take it all in because there's just going to be action everywhere."
Moms in Gear, a group of women who have been playing a weekly hockey game for the last five years, has three of the five teams entered in the tournament's women's division - The Cougars, Iced Cappa-Chick-As and Chicks with Sticks.
"Our average age is probably 48 or 49," said Barb Murphy, a player on one of the teams.
"The majority of us, when we started five years ago, had never been in hockey gear and had never been on hockey skates."
Murphy is also a co-owner of a number of area Tim Hortons.
"When we started our skill level would be comparable to the Timbits."
She said it a "a perfect fit for Tim Hortons" to be involved in the pond hockey tournament.
"It's about kids and providing them with opportunities that they may not otherwise have."
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