Land & Sea: It doesn't get more tight-knit than this 'boot hockey' tournament in Isle aux Morts

Jane Adey · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 22, 2025 2:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The streets of Isle aux Morts, connected Newfoundland's southwest coast, are quiescent successful winter. 

The municipality has mislaid a batch of beingness since the 1980s, erstwhile the fishery thrived and the colonisation was astir 1,200. Now, fractional that fig telephone Isle aux Morts home.

The food works closed successful 1995. The schoolhouse is down to 17 children, and there's lone 1 fisherman moving connected the water. 

It's quiet, but there's inactive tons of vigor successful this tiny spot — and every year, during a fewer days successful February, there's also a heavy look of love, not conscionable for St. Valentine, but for the assemblage and a large Canadian game: hockey.    

This twelvemonth marked the 10th yearly Isle Aux Morts Winter Classic, spearheaded by Vic Lawrence, who founded the event.

"Last twelvemonth I deliberation we had 12 men's teams and six women's teams. We play for 10 minutes, that's it, crippled over. We person a docket made up," said Lawrence.

February isn't the easiest clip to travel, but the gully is irresistible for homesick, hockey-loving Isle aux Morters.

"People travel backmost from everywhere: St. John's, Halifax, New Brunswick, Ontario. We person guys from Alberta," said Lawrence. 

Steve LeFrense grew up successful Isle aux Morts and lives 15 minutes distant successful Port aux Basques.

He says the lawsuit ever brings excitement and raises spirits successful the community.

"I emotion everybody coming location and seeing tons of household and friends and radical that you haven't seen successful a while. Everybody's unneurotic for a afloat weekend. So we play hockey together, we devour together, past we're each astatine the barroom together," said LeFrense. 

There, they relive old times and puerility memories from simpler days. 

"Everybody knows everybody and it's a truly choky community," helium says. "Growing up present ... I mean, we didn't person the exertion things similar kids person today. So our [time] was spent outside."

A batch of wintertime amusive successful Isle aux Morts has ever taken spot connected Lorrie's pond, wherever locals person gathered connected the crystal for generations to play pond hockey. 

"We'd enactment determination each time agelong connected the weekends and arsenic soon arsenic we got retired of school, we were backmost determination again. We'd physique the woody nets and we'd spell to our buddy's father's signifier and screen it and we utilized them each winter. There were days it wasn't acceptable to beryllium down there, but we were inactive there," said Lawrence. 

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Lawrence recalls that immoderate of the kids who'd play would person skates and immoderate wouldn't. To marque definite they could person arsenic galore radical connected the hockey teams arsenic possible, they each agreed to play successful their wintertime boots.

Boot hockey, arsenic they telephone it, is the crippled they play astatine the Isle aux Morts Winter Classic. 

"The archetypal twelvemonth determination were 36 of us. And each twelvemonth it's going bigger and bigger. Last twelvemonth we had 150. This year, it looks similar we're going to person more, astir apt 170," said Lawrence. 

The archetypal respective years the Classic was held close connected Lorrie's pond.

But successful caller years the crystal became unpredictable, truthful the lawsuit moved to a abstraction that utilized to beryllium the marine centre.

When men similar Vic Lawrence and Steve LeFrense were young boys, that abstraction would person been filled with sportfishing boats each wintertime long. Now, determination are none. 

And that's 1 of the reasons the Winter Classic means truthful overmuch to the community: on with boosting spirits, it provides a fiscal injection into a dying town.

All twelvemonth long, successful the lead-up to the play of pond hockey, Lawrence organizes online hockey pools. All the wealth raised goes backmost into the community. 

Over the past decade, the section Anglican religion has scored a immense blessing: donations totalling immoderate $30,000 to assistance with operating expenses.

The assemblage centre gets an yearly cheque from the Winter Classic, and truthful does the Isle aux Morts Fifty Plus Club. 

Doreen Billard, nine president, says the wintertime lawsuit has go an important gathering, some socially and economically. 

"The municipality comes alive. This weekend, wherever you go, she's full," Billard said. "We look guardant to preparing for it due to the fact that we cognize we're going to spot radical we haven't seen since past year."

Freeman Walters moved distant from Isle aux Morts successful 1966 to find enactment successful Nova Scotia.

He hasn't missed 1 Winter Classic.

In fact, helium gets truthful excited to travel location successful February each year, determination are nights helium can't sleep. 

"There's thing similar seeing your household and each your friends and the radical that you grew up with," Walters says.

"Your bosom and your encephalon is inactive successful Newfoundland, careless wherever you go."

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