© Tina Russell-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Snowmobiles fly under gray skies as hockey sticks clang together on frozen Fourth Lake. Four rinks ringed by lights form a crossroads in front of the Eagle Bay Village chalets and cabins. Spectators—some in horned Viking helmets—watch from behind shin-high borders and burn barrels while players chase pucks toward six-inch-tall nets. (Pond hockey nets are shorter so that shots stay low.) Absent are goalies, time stops and thrown fists. This is the Adirondack Ice Bowl, an easy-going pond-hockey tournament in the heart of the Adirondacks.
Pat O’Brien, one of the tournament’s original volunteers, remembers its beginnings. After hearing his grandparents reminisce about past pickup pond-hockey games in front of their Old Forge property, he and some cousins and friends—led by an older cousin, Jim O’Brien—put together the first tournament on First Lake, in 2009, setting up two simple rinks boarded by plywood.
“We had 16 teams just amongst all of our friends that we grew up playing hockey with and, through a one-day tournament, just had a great bunch of fun,” Pat said. “Snowmobilers on the lakes stopped by to see what was going on. Everybody told us that we should commercialize this, they’d love to come.”
Jim and his crew hosted a tournament the following year in front of the old North Woods Inn, on Fourth Lake—now Great Pines—bringing in sponsors and expanding the number of teams. The next year the event moved up the lake to the Woods Inn, its home for the next six years. Over time thousands of people have participated, some coming from as far as the West Coast, Mexico and Europe—one year’s lineup included a gang of towering European roller-hockey champions.
But warming temperatures shut the tournament down early in 2017 and, with increasingly unpredictable winters and the organizers’ growing families and overbooked schedules, the tradition came to an end. “It takes six to eight months of preparation for a weekend tournament,” said Pat. “My cousins and all their friends … just didn’t have the time to put into it.”
In 2024, Pat decided to bring it back, approaching his family and offering to take charge.
“It was kind of a perfect storm for the revival to happen,” he said. When the lakeside Eagle Bay Village came under new ownership, “we all started talking about the Ice Bowl and how that would be a great location if we were to start bringing it back.”
It was a lot for Pat to take on, but his cousin Jim and some of the other original founders helped as consultants. “My family was happy to keep it in the family,” said Pat.
Clearing the ice for the tournament’s 2025 return was one of the first hurdles. “Snow is an insulator. If you don’t clear the snow off of the ice, the ice won’t get as thick,” Pat explained. “We got a ton of snow—it made it extremely difficult.” About a dozen volunteers worked almost every day to keep up with the shoveling.
Throughout last year’s tournament weekend, 8,700 players and fans turned out as 30 teams clashed in four-on-four match-ups, each made up of two 15-minute halves. Refs kept track of the score manually, moving pucks down wooden boards for every goal, and vintage Zambonis—one custom-made from a tractor—circled the rinks during longer intermissions. A Saint Bernard in a blue bandanna worked the crowd as kids jumped into snowbanks or played pickup games on open ice. Nearby, the entertainment tent offered burgers and beer, plus bands later in the evenings.
At the end of the weekend, the winning teams in three divisions received frosty replicas of the Stanley Cup carved by the Ice Farm, out of Jordan, New York. Net profits from entry fees and sponsorships went to the Inlet Youth Commission, Old Forge Ambulance Corps and Inlet Emergency Services.
“I felt blessed with the turnout,” said Pat. “That we had that many players, spectators … the amount of comments we received, everyone so happy to see us come back.”
The 2026 tournament happens February 20–21. For details or to register, visit Adirondack Ice Bowl on Facebook.
