The Puck Starts Here
PLANS FOR ROUND TWO OF BERKSHIRE POND HOCKEY CLASSIC ARE WELL UNDERWAY
By Taylor Staubach
Photos By David Edgecomb
BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE—The Berkshire Pond Hockey Classic is an exhilarating annual event that celebrates the pure essence of hockey. This tournament embraces the elements: a frozen pond surrounded by snow-covered hills that ring with the impassioned shouts of players and spectators alike; a chance to witness thrilling games that harken back to the sport’s roots.
It’s this experience that inspired tournament founder Alex Regen to run with this idea. “There’s just a freedom that you feel, something so elemental to being on a frozen pond,” he says. “The mountains are in the background; there might be a bald eagle. There’s this crisp silence, fresh air, and the camaraderie of other players. It’s something very nostalgic.”
That was the plan back in January of 2023. But Berkshire weather can have a way of shifting the most thought-out plans, and last winter was no exception. Plan A turned to Plan B, which turned to Plan C, and the lively game of pond hockey was set up in Berkshires School’s indoor rink in Sheffield. Perseverance paid off, and oh, what fun was had by all! It came down to the determination of one person whose love for hockey began as a young boy and never diminished.
Growing up in New Jersey, Alex’s family frequented a cabin on Lake Buel in Monterey
from the time he was a year old. It was there that his dad taught him to skate. “My love of the sport really started here in the Berkshires,” he says. Alex would go on to play high school, college, and league hockey. Now a start-up executive for various media companies, he still spends time at his childhood lake. It was there that a chance conversation with a new neighbor— who happened to be a former hockey player—started a series of events that would turn out to be serendipitous. The conversation inspired Alex to inquire about the possibility of holding a tournament on the pond. Emailing his query to the Monterey Parks and Recreation Committee, he received an enthusiastic reply from committee member and former team dentist to the NHL Hartford Whalers, Tom Mensi. Alex and Tom would meet up to discuss plans at the Great Barrington Bagel Company, only to have its owner, Bob Clemo, a hockey player himself, sign up to be the tournament’s first sponsor. “The more I started talking to people about this idea of a tournament, it’s like people started coming out of the woodwork, and I kind of uncovered that we lived in this type of ‘Mystery, Alaska’ hockey community in the Berkshires,” says Alex.
Berkshire Magazine. Read the full article here.
Learn more about the Berkshire Pond Hockey Classic.