On a recent Friday afternoon, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity arrived in the form of a text message to many of Vancouver’s elite hockey players. It was a last-minute, impromptu invitation to perhaps the world’s most scenic and unorthodox pickup pond hockey game.
With the instructions vague and the destination unknown, the message read like a top-secret mission.
“My old teammate basically wrote, ‘Hey, we’re playing hockey tomorrow at the top of a mountain, are you in?’” said Federico Angel, 28, a former goaltender at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. “There was no other explanation.”
Early the next morning, on Nov. 28, the selected players met at the mouth of Pitt Lake, where a jet boat escorted them through a trail of fog to an isolated beach. There, helicopters transported them to a winter oasis perched at 5,500 feet, with the rink enclosed by majestic ice-capped mountains.
“I’m always up for a little adventure, just because British Columbia has so many beautiful places to see,” said Geoff Courtnall, who played 17 seasons in the NHL.
Bradley Friesen has an eye for discovering those places. A helicopter pilot, Friesen has made a career doing aerial photography in the region. A chance encounter during a freezing February night in 2012 first inspired the high-altitude hockey heaven.
“A few years ago, when everything froze in Vancouver, I was up flying and found perfect black ice,” Friesen, 42, said. “I filmed some guys skating on it with the GoPro, and it was some of the most amazing footage I’ve ever seen.”
“I immediately got this idea in my head that I wanted to build a rink on the mountain at some point.”
For the next three years, Friesen kept trying to organize and film his vision. But finding days where the ideal weather and ice conditions were perfectly in sync were few and far between. On several occasions, Friesen and his friends started the process, only to cancel the game because of cracked ice or snowstorms.
Over this past summer, Friesen met the former Vancouver Canuck Manny Malhotra during a helicopter ride. After Friesen told Malhotra about his idea and shared a few video clips, Malhotra volunteered to help him with this project.
After the pair tried in the last week of November to build a couple of potential sites on Pitt Lake that ultimately collapsed, Malhotra thought the pipe dream was off.
“We spent four hours on Thursday shoveling one of the rinks, so when it sunk, it was not a good feeling at all,” said Malhotra, a 1998 first-round draft pick by the New York Rangers.
But the next day, Malhotra said, Friesen found a better spot with better conditions.
With the weather providing a 24-hour window to pull off the game, Friesen took care of the logistics (travel and videography), while Malhotra was responsible for recruiting the high-level local players. He was able to corral a mix of former college, American Hockey League and NHL players.
Along with the 15 players, three helicopters took turns shuttling in videographers, camera equipment, a half-dozen spectators, and even three Vancouver Canucks Ice Girls to assist with the ice maintenance. As the skies cleared around noon, the final helicopter came up over the horizon.
“We’re all standing at the lake and here comes the helicopter with like a 12-foot line holding all of our gear and the two nets, and it just drops it on the ice,” said Angel, who called the day one of the top five moments in his life. “That in itself was a sight.”
For the next three hours, spirited four-on-four games played out on top of transparent black ice that was 6.5 inches thick. With the sun dominating the sky, an abundance of cameras — from GoPros on drones to sideline cell phones — documented the surreal event.
“It was probably one of the greatest days, it couldn’t have been better,” said Courtnall, 53, whose son, Adam, also played. “The ice was probably the smoothest ice I’ve ever skated on. The sun came out; it was spectacular.”
Although the game made for great Instagram moments, the actual play was awkward at times. The bright rays forced players to wear sunglasses, and the ice was lightning-fast to skate on. The ambience was the exact opposite from a standard NHL arena.
“It was obviously different dimensions, and there were no boards; you lost little bit of perspective as far as playing hockey,” said Malhotra, 35, who played with the Montreal Canadiens last season. “You’re used to playing within the confines of something, so it took a little bit to get used to that.”
On the sideline, the man responsible for putting it all together was taking it all in. In a rare moment in which he was not engulfed in making helicopter runs or filming, Friesen took a moment to witness his three-year fantasy play out.
“I skated over to one of my buddies and I just said, ‘I can’t believe we’re actually pulling this off right now,’” said Friesen, who estimated the stunt cost only $500 Canadian. “It was so surreal to me.”
Four days after the experience on Pitt Lake, Malhotra accepted a tryout offer by the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. While hockey may be a job for him again soon, he was reminded at 5,500 feet that it should not always have to be.
“There were no fans, no paycheck, no Cup to be won,” Malhotra said. “It was just about getting to play the game you love in its most natural setting. It was pure hockey.”
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