Land & Sea: It doesn't get more tight-knit than this 'boot hockey' tournament in Isle aux Morts
This year marked the 10th annual Isle aux Morts Winter Classic. (Paul Pickett/CBC)
The streets of Isle aux Morts, on Newfoundland's southwest coast, are quiet in winter.
The town has lost a lot of life since the 1980s, when the fishery thrived and the population was about 1,200. Now, half that number call Isle aux Morts home.
The fish plant closed in 1995. The school is down to 17 children, and there's only one fisherman working on the water.
It's quiet, but there's still lots of energy in this tiny place — and every year, during a few days in February, there's also a deep expression of love, not just for St. Valentine, but for the community and a great Canadian game: hockey.
This year marked the 10th annual Isle Aux Morts Winter Classic, spearheaded by Vic Lawrence, who founded the event.
"Last year I think we had 12 men's teams and six women's teams. We play for 10 minutes, that's it, game over. We have a schedule made up," said Lawrence.
February isn't the easiest time to travel, but the draw is irresistible for homesick, hockey-loving Isle aux Morters.
Pond hockey has been played on Lorrie's Pond in Isle aux Morts for generations. This photo is from the 1960s. (Submitted)
"People come back from everywhere: St. John's, Halifax, New Brunswick, Ontario. We have guys from Alberta," said Lawrence.
Steve LeFrense grew up in Isle aux Morts and lives 15 minutes away in Port aux Basques.
He says the event always brings excitement and raises spirits in the community.
"I love everybody coming home and seeing lots of family and friends and people that you haven't seen in a while. Everybody's together for a full weekend. So we play hockey together, we eat together, then we're all at the bar together," said LeFrense.
There, they relive old times and childhood memories from simpler days.
"Everybody knows everybody and it's a really tight community," he says. "Growing up here ... I mean, we didn't have the technology things like kids have today. So our [time] was spent outside."
A lot of winter fun in Isle aux Morts has always taken place on Lorrie's pond, where locals have gathered on the ice for generations to play pond hockey.
"We'd stay there all day long on the weekends and as soon as we got out of school, we were back there again. We'd build the wooden nets and we'd go to our buddy's father's stage and cover it and we used them all winter. There were days it wasn't fit to be down there, but we were still there," said Lawrence.
WATCH | Check out the full episode of Land & Sea:
Lawrence recalls that some of the kids who'd play would have skates and some wouldn't. To make sure they could have as many people on the hockey teams as possible, they all agreed to play in their winter boots.
Boot hockey, as they call it, is the game they play at the Isle aux Morts Winter Classic.
"The first year there were 36 of us. And every year it's going bigger and bigger. Last year we had 150. This year, it looks like we're going to have more, probably 170," said Lawrence.
The first several years the Classic was held right on Lorrie's pond.
But in recent years the ice became unpredictable, so the event moved to a space that used to be the marine centre.
When men like Vic Lawrence and Steve LeFrense were young boys, that space would have been filled with fishing boats all winter long. Now, there are none.
And that's one of the reasons the Winter Classic means so much to the community: along with boosting spirits, it provides a financial injection into a dying town.
All hands are deck for the annual winter classic. (Isle aux Morts/Facebook)
All year long, in the lead-up to the weekend of pond hockey, Lawrence organizes online hockey pools. All the money raised goes back into the community.
Over the past decade, the local Anglican church has scored a huge blessing: donations totalling some $30,000 to help with operating expenses.
The community centre gets an annual cheque from the Winter Classic, and so does the Isle aux Morts Fifty Plus Club.
Doreen Billard, club president, says the winter event has become an important gathering, both socially and economically.
"The town comes alive. This weekend, wherever you go, she's full," Billard said. "We look forward to preparing for it because we know we're going to see people we haven't seen since last year."
Freeman Walters moved away from Isle aux Morts in 1966 to find work in Nova Scotia.
He hasn't missed one Winter Classic.
In fact, he gets so excited to come home in February each year, there are nights he can't sleep.
"There's nothing like seeing your family and all your friends and the people that you grew up with," Walters says.
"Your heart and your brain is still in Newfoundland, regardless where you go."
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
32 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
'The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays' explores baseball team's 48-year history
TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays brass used all the bells and whistles when they tried to land two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani in the fall of 2023. The once-in-a-lifetime pursuit of the Japanese free agent, as author Keegan Matheson writes in his new book, 'The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays,' included taking Ohtani, his agent and interpreter at the time on a tour of the team's renovated player development complex, complete with a few special touches. Three lockers in the clubhouse were set aside for Ohtani, along with jerseys, gear, hats, bags and accessories. It was all part of an elaborate effort to sell him on the team. An impressed Ohtani — whose camp wanted total secrecy throughout the process — walked out of the Dunedin, Fla., facility with bags of team gear and a Blue Jays hat on his head, Matheson writes. Ohtani stopped to take pictures with his interpreter, who was also sporting some Toronto kit. The superstar's dog, 'Decoy,' came running out to join them in a Canadian dog jacket the Blue Jays had bought for him. 'I think that the presentation they gave Ohtani was incredibly impressive and they were not the No. 2 team just to be strung along and used as the other person at the bargaining table,' said Matheson. 'They were No. 2 because they almost signed him.' The behind-the-scenes colour and details from Matheson's interviews and descriptions bring an intriguing, memorable and downright surreal chapter in the team's near half-century history to life. Ohtani would eventually sign a 10-year, US$700-million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a big blow for Canada's lone big-league team and its countrywide contingent of supporters. The Blue Jays would eventually sign a big fish of their own, locking up star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year extension last April worth a team record $500 million. The megadeal helped soothe any lingering pain from the Ohtani situation and also showed the franchise was willing to spend big in an effort to be a consistent contender. But that Ohtani off-season — from a bizarre Zoom call with general manager Ross Atkins to the erroneous report that Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays and was on a plane to Toronto — was the 'strangest experience' Matheson expects to have as a reporter. 'The game that went into it was really fascinating,' Matheson said in a recent interview. 'Trying to operate in secrecy in a world where we want to know everything that's going on with your favourite team and with your favourite player. 'This was more of a TV drama and the amount of work that went into keeping it secret fascinates me.' The book also explores the team's early days, the playoff successes in the early 1990s, the near-misses in the previous decade, and many of the players — on and off the field — who made it all happen. The stories and anecdotes are not always the obvious ones. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. From players sipping chicken noodle soup at a frigid Exhibition Stadium, to amusing tales of manager-athlete dynamics, to the homecoming after a 670-day break between home games due to COVID-19, Matheson touches all the bases. 'Instead of asking a pitcher why he lost or asking someone why they struck out three times, this was an opportunity to ask someone, 'Hey, tell me about the best days of your life,'' said Matheson, who covers the team for 'Tell me about that memory that everyone always asks you about at the bar, at golf tournaments and coffee shops.' 'The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays,' a 302-page book published by Triumph Books, is available now at a retail price of $38. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
32 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Vancouver short on hotel rooms, silent on safety costs for 2026 World Cup
VANCOUVER – One year out from the FIFA World Cup, questions remain about where soccer fans visiting Vancouver will stay and how much it will cost to keep the city safe. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim spoke to reporters at an event marking the one-year countdown to the tournament on Wednesday, saying the city began working on security plans even before it was confirmed to host seven 2026 World Cup games. He says those plans were 'augmented' after 11 people were killed when a man drove a car into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu festival in April. The security costs have not been publicly released, but Sim says the city will 'make the necessary investments to make sure that people are safe in the city of Vancouver' during the event. Spencer Chandra Herbert, B.C.'s minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, says the province will release a 'full costing' later this month, updating how much it expects to spend on the World Cup. Back in April 2024, B.C. organizers estimated the cost at between $483 million and $581 million for city and provincial services, as well as upgrades to B.C. Place Stadium. About 350,000 people are expected to visit Vancouver during the World Cup, Chandra Herbert said at Wednesday's event. Questions have been raised about where they'll stay, as a city report released in April noted there are just 13,000 rooms spread across 78 hotels within the municipality. The report found that Vancouver lost about 550 hotel rooms between 2020 and 2022, in part because some older hotels were converted to housing for vulnerable people. Tourists may need to get creative during the tournament, Chandra Herbert suggested. 'We're working with our hotel partners across the province,' he said. 'We think there's opportunity for people to stay further afield. We know Hullo and BC Ferries, we're looking at them as an opportunity for overflow, even all the way to Nanaimo. Of course, out in the (Fraser) Valley.' Chandra Herbert said some Vancouver residents may also look to rent out their homes during the World Cup. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Both the province and the City of Vancouver have regulations for short-term rentals, including rules on what types of homes can be used. In Vancouver, all operators must also have a business licence. 'It's a good problem to have,' Chandra Herbert said. 'A whole bunch of people want to come and be with us in B.C., and we can't wait to welcome them.' The 2026 World Cup kicks off on June 11, 2026, with opening games in Mexico City and Guadalajara. Toronto and Vancouver are the two Canadian cities hosting matches, as part of the 16 host cities across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Vancouver will stage five opening-round games starting June 13, plus a round-of-32 and a round-of-16 match. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
32 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canadians ready for challenge of U.S. Open at Oakmont after demanding Canadian Open
This is arguably the toughest stretch for Canada's best male golfers, with two of their biggest events of year on back-to-back weeks. Nick Taylor, Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes were all in the mix in the final round of the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday, the only PGA Tour event north of the border and a tournament that they consider 'the fifth major' of their year. On Thursday they will tee it up at an official major, the third of the men's season, when the U.S. Open starts at the infamously challenging Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh. Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., said that the transition between the two tournaments can be difficult. 'Managing your rest, your energy levels, is huge,' said Taylor after finishing his final round of the Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in Caledon, Ont. 'The hard part going into next week, I've never been there. I'm going to see the golf course. I'm going to put some time in on the greens, around the greens, and just try to get as much rest as possible. 'I'll have three days to manage that. It's not like I'm going to be searching for anything golf game-wise because I feel like I'm in a good spot, so that's definitely a nice thing.' There are more media demands placed on Canada's golfers ahead of the Canadian Open as they help promote the national men's championship. Coupled with the desire to win the title — Taylor is the only Canadian to manage the feat in over 70 years — and the pressure of larger galleries, it can be an exhausting week. Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, Ont., said that he and the other 23 Canadians at the national championship look forward to the Canadian Open every year. 'It's the one time of the year that we've got everybody cheering for us, and we want to put on a good show for the fans. They get it once a year,' he said. 'They were awesome this week, really, tons of great crowds. 'It's a long week for us. We don't get this every week, so it's a little more mentally draining (…) There's a lot of people around, saying hi to a lot of people, a lot of familiar faces, but it's awesome.' Conners, from Listowel, Ont., is the top-ranked Canadian on the PGA Tour so far this season, sitting ninth headed into the U.S. Open. Taylor is 14th on the FedEx Cup points list, Pendrith is 30th and Hughes is 47th. Like Pendrith, Conners praised the fans at the Canadian Open, even going so far as to say it helped prepare him for the major at Oakmont. 'It's cool to play in front of the home fans here, and a lot of people show up and support all the Canadian guys,' said Conners. 'It's a special feeling to be out there kind of living my dream. 'They kind of make me more relaxed. They give me some more energy. I've had a blast playing in front of them this week. Not feeling too worn out heading into what I know will be a demanding week (at the U.S. Open).' Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., also took the back-to-back events in stride. 'I wouldn't say it's too difficult. We kind of do that sort of stuff all the time,' he said. 'Week to week we make adjustments, and we get ready to go for the next one. 'Obviously, (the Canadian Open) is more of a taxing week for us as Canadians, but I'll get myself ready to go for Thursday and hopefully have a great week over there.' Although there are some similarities between TPC Toronto and Oakmont — especially penal rough — there's no doubt which one is harder to play. 'I've heard some scary thing the last few days,' said Taylor, who will be playing Oakmont for the first time this week. 'It's probably hack-out rough, as in just hit a wedge 50 yards down the fairway and play from there. 'So if you can, be up and around the greens as much as possible.' Pendrith said that the although they both have deep rough, the fairways are relatively wide at TPC Toronto compared to Oakmont. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'I went two weeks ago. It's hard, yeah,' said Pendrith. 'It was a day that was probably 10 degrees Celsius and blowing 20 and raining. It was very, very difficult. Hit driver on a par-3. 'Probably never done that before or not in a long time. It's tricky.' LPGA TOUR — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., is the top ranked Canadian heading into this week's Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. She's 50th on the Road to CME Globe standings. Savannah Grewal (124th) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton's Alena Sharp (135th) and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., (164th) are also in the field at Blythefield Country Club in Belmont, Mich. EPSON TOUR — Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., leads the Canadian contingent into the Great Lakes Championship at the Highlands presented by Johnnie Walker. She's 37th in the Race for the Card standings. Josee Doyon (53rd) of Saint-Georges, Que., Monet Chun (64th) of Richmond Hill, Ont., Yeji Kwon (112th) of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Brigitte Thibault (135th) of Rosemere, Que., Vancouver's Leah John (137th) and Mary Parsons (148th) of Delta, B.C., are also in the field at The Highlands in Harbor Springs, Mich. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
