Hockey rules in Spanish lookout
It’s a game that was born on the ice covered ponds of the far frozen north, and certainly not something you would have ever imagined being played in the tropical climes of Belize. But with the adaptation of some tiny rubber wheels and a whole lot of concrete, the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout is home to the hottest new game in town. News 5’s Brent Toombs explains.
Brent Toombs, Reporting
It’s Saturday Night in Spanish Lookout, and tonight the place to be is at the rink. Yes, that’s right… It’s hockey night in Belize!
Borrowing from the movie Field of Dreams “If you build it they will come”, the people of Spanish Lookout have erected a full sized hockey rink in the middle of the Belizean bush. And the people have come… a couple hundred of them to witness tonight’s playoff tilt between the Eagles and the Mustangs.
Eddy Reimer, Eagles Coach
“It surprises me in some way that we have so many people come out, but we haven’t had any sports five years back. This is something new that we feel is something good for the community.”
The father of Belizean Hockey is Ken Dueck, who tonight is one of the referees. After spending a winter in Canada, Ken returned home with a few hockey sticks and a pair of roller-blades. It didn’t take long for the game to catch on.
Tim Banman, Mustangs Goalie
“It started out in the barns and wherever there was a new building with a big floor, a concrete floor, we’d play on it before they moved the stock in.”
Elmer Dueck, Eagles Forward
“It took us sometime before we had a real hockey floor to play on. We used to only play only on, let say if a business was building a new shed we’d go play on it for a while.”
As interest in hockey continued to grow, the game quickly became too big for chicken barns and half-finished warehouses. The new rink is testimony to the community spirit of Spanish Lookout.
Eddy Reimer, Eagles Coach
“This guy gave his piece of land, and put he up money for the concrete floor. Everything else was donated. “
Brent Toombs
“Although the league in Spanish Lookout is only in its fifth season, the players have taken to the game almost by instinct. In fact, up until a few years ago, most of these players had never even seen a hockey game.”
Elmer Dueck, Eagles Forward
“I used to watch some hockey clips, but I haven’t watched that many games. It’s mainly just playing on floors like this.”
Tim Banman, Mustangs Forward
“When the N.H.L. has the finals, whoever has satellite we’d go watch the finals there and stuff like that. I guess they pick up there. There is a bunch of us, like myself, I played in Canada.”
Tonight’s match is game two of the best of five finals. The Eagles, in green, lead the series over the Mustangs one game to nothing. It’s a spirited affair, although typical of playoff hockey penalties are kept to a minimum, at least for tonight. But hockey is a notoriously violent sport, and the Spanish Lookout variety is no exception.
Tim Banman
“This one game, we had one guy broke his nose and the other guy split his forehead. It was getting too rough, too out of hand, so the ref had to step in. But I guess people don’t mind. It was rough for most people for a while. Some people don’t even come watch it anymore, but this is one of the roughest sports that we play. We had volleyball and there wouldn’t be such tight competition. This is really getting serious, we’re actually, we don’t get along with each other all the time, but I guess that’s all involved in the sport.”
Given the rapid rise of the game’s popularity in Spanish Lookout, is it possible there may be a place for hockey alongside football, basketball, softball, and cricket on the national sports scene?
Elmer Dueck, Eagles Forward
“I’m hoping. We’re trying to get players from outside Spanish Lookout, we recently had some guys from Belmopan coming out to watch and I’m always trying to get my friends from Belmopan to come over.”
Eddy Reimer
“I hope it’s going to go national in some years. I’m sure it’ll take a while because it’s something new for Belize, so I think it will take a while. But I hope in some years there will be other teams stepping up from other districts too.”
Reporting from Spanish Lookout, I’m Brent Toombs for News 5.
The Mustangs went on to win the game four to one to even the series at one game apiece. However the Eagles regained the advantage on Wednesday night with a five-three victory. The fourth game of the best of five series is scheduled for Saturday night at seven-fifteen. If you’re interested in attending the game, the hockey rink is located four miles past the Iguana Creek Bridge on the way to Spanish Lookout. Admission to the game is three dollars per person.
