ABOVE: The ice on Lake Sisseton behind The Marina Lodge in Fairmont will soon have rinks on it in anticipation for the Southern Minnesota Pond Hockey Tournament, which is next weekend.

FAIRMONT– For the first time in several years, the Southern Minnesota Pond Hockey Tournament will be held on the ice of Sisseton Lake in Fairmont the weekend of Jan. 11-12.

The tournament has been taking place for over a decade but in recent years it saw some changes or didn’t take place at all.

It was cancelled in January of 2020 due to a blizzard and then rescheduled for March but ultimately cancelled as that’s the time that Covid initially hit. It was not held for the same reason in 2021.

In 2022, the tournament returned to its original venue, but in 2023 strange ice conditions moved it indoors.

“We had ice, and then we ended up getting snow and then it rained on top of that and unfortunately we hadn’t kept up with snow removal,” explained Logyn Cone, an organizer of the event.

Last year, in 2024, the warm weather didn’t allow for thick enough ice for the tournament to be played outside so it was once again held indoors at the Martin County Arena.

While organizers were grateful to have a venue, everyone agrees that the event truly shines outdoors on the frozen lake and they’re looking forward to that this year.

Cone said this year organizers have done what they can to help with the ice conditions.

“When we saw the forecast called for rain, we had Thate’s Trees Service go down and move the snow off the ice prior to the warm days. That way we wouldn’t have that inconsistent ice,” she explained. “We’ve really stayed on top of it and it’s made a difference.”

They’ve also been measuring ice thickness to ensure it’s safe enough to play on.

“We prefer 10 to 11 inches of ice. We had nine inches a week ago and next week we’ll have days down to negative seven (degrees) so more ice will be made. We’ll be good to go with the ice levels,” Cone said.

Along with Cone, the committee of organizers includes Myah Lytle, Ian Bents, Tom O’Brien, Josh Bremer, Dave Cone, Tom Havnen, Reilly Hoefker and Colin Bewley.

“There’s more that are behind the scenes that will come out Saturday (today) to build the rinks. We’re planning on having six total rinks this year,” Cone said.

She explained that six rinks are being used to keep the games moving and ensure as many people are playing at once as possible. The builders go off of drawings with measurements to allow for snowblowers between rinks in the event of snow.

Six rinks is likely a good call this year as registration recently closed with 19 adult teams consisting of six players each for a total of nearly 120 adults.

“This is a surplus this year for sure,” Cone said. “From what I’ve experienced this is more than I’ve seen.”

She also spoke to a positive change the organizers made concerning the youth teams.

“This is the first year that we decided to make the youth tournament absolutely free. Whether they’re from Fairmont or out of town, they can play for free,” she said.

One of the group’s goals is to grow outside team involvement and bring other towns to the tournament.

“Our Fairmont teams can play teams other than just their Fairmont friends they play with every day. That way their small area games improve and their skills improve when they play in that space,” she said.

They’ve seen a good response as a result of the change. Cone said they have registered youth teams coming from outside of the area including Sioux Center, Iowa, Watertown, South Dakota, Okoboji, Iowa and Edina, Minnesota.

“It’s really fun to see,” Cone said.

In addition to the players, the tournament always brings in a healthy amount of spectators, too.

“We have a lot of Fairmont graduates who come back and play and they bring their families and it’s kind of like a reunion for them,” Cone said.

Saturday, Jan. 11 will be a full day with games starting in the morning. On Sunday the championship games will take place and Cone suspects there will be more games than usual that day because of the additional teams in the tournament this year.

A tent will be set up on the ice behind presenting sponsor, The Marina Lodge, with a merchandise stand and full concession stands, including a pork chop meal.

“LB Pork donates all of the pork chops for us. It wouldn’t be a Martin County event without pork chops,” Cone said.

This year, inside The Marina Lodge, they will also have a sports memorabilia auction going on.

Cone pointed out that the whole purpose for the tournament is to fundraise for the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association programs.

“Everything goes back to the youth whether it’s a piece of merchandise sold or the registration fee. It all goes back,” she said.

All of the organizers are involved as volunteers and they depend on the gift of sponsors to help put it on.

“We do it because we love what it’s about and bringing people to the community,” Cone said. “We’re looking forward to being outside again. It will be pretty special I think the energy will definitely be there.”