LONDON, UK – If you were an alien visiting Earth and shown a picture of the landscape and then introduced to ice hockey, you might reasonably assume that of all the continents that make up the planet, the one with over five million square miles of ice would be the best to host a hockey game.
Antarctica’s ice is of course one of the least accessible and most expensive destinations to get to, never mind play a game of hockey on. Yet Dubai in the sandy desert of the Middle East easily hosts the beautiful game. Work that one out aliens!
Such challenges are always there to be met and 27 year old American Ryan Bahl is a man hoping to not only play a game of hockey in Antarctica but break a Guinness World Record at the same time.
‘When I spoke to the Guinness World Records and was denied a record for having played on all six continents, my wife Michaela was the first person I talked to, and we both came up with this somewhat crazy idea of going down to Antarctica’ explains Bahl, who has played competitive hockey in South Africa, Iceland, New Zealand, Spain, Hong Kong as well as his native US.
‘We both play hockey (and actually met playing hockey) so our love of the game is very important to us and something like this is one of our main focuses – not only hockey related, but also on a personal level.’
‘It’s pretty cool that most couples argue about who’s doing the dishes that night and we get to argue about who gets play on which team in Antarctica or who will score the first goal.’
Of course many couples plan exotic futures, like opening a hostel in Patagonia, owning a floating bar in Vietnam or moving to Japan to teach English. Most don’t get past the post coital bedroom chat, however Bahl and Michaela are well into the planning stage of making their dream a reality.
‘We are preparing to deliver and build a rink, have referees and keep score for a little mini-series or tournament between two teams. At least two teams at the moment, but again this will depend on logistics and planning’ says Bahl, who is currently back in San Diego playing in his local Senior AAA league.
‘To make it official we need to do everything right and by the book to create a perfect hockey series. We’ve been in talks with the Hockey Hall of Fame about recording some records and possibly bringing down the Stanley Cup, plus we’ve been in talks with the IIHF about governing the event and making it official’
‘We’ve had a few companies offer to live stream the game so it’s televised to a certain degree, and a ton of businesses have reached out with interest as partners or sponsors.’
Bahl in action
Interest from potential players has also been high with 617 players from 32 different countries signing up to play in the game, ranging from ex-NHLers to people who have never picked up a hockey stick. The interest has been huge with fifty branded jerseys also sold, which helps contribute towards financing the game.
‘Unfortunately, it will not be logistically possible to accommodate all the players’ admits Bahl.
‘However, we are setting up our business plan so that this event can be re-done in the future and allow many more players the same opportunity. I still highly recommend every person who is interested to sign up and send us over their information because you really never know how the future will turn out.’
‘We have some opportunities set up in which players can be drafted through a lottery, sponsorship, or by other means – so if anyone is interested they should shoot us a message.’
‘We also really enjoy hearing from people and read every single message thoroughly. We find it really interesting that the hockey community has come together over such a unique event and that so many people are interested in what we’re doing.’
Most visitors to Antarctica are either on a cruise ship skirting the peninsula from destinations like Ushuaia in Argentina or working in scientific research bases dotted further inland.
As a fragile wilderness with natural as well as political challenges to be overcome, hosting a game of hockey on this vast expanse of ice requires planning, lots of money and a suitable location. Bahl believes that any game is likely to be held near a scientific base purely for practical reasons.
‘Scientific bases make up most of the populated areas of Antarctica’ he explains.
‘We’re currently exploring about four or five locations all of which are slightly different and have different contacts and regulations. There are also a lot of rules and regulations in visiting and planning an event of this magnitude which is where most of our delays and logistics have been held up.’
‘With one specific location we had about 70 pages of documents and regulations to read through so it’s been quite a bit of work, but I am very, very confident that this will happen and we’re working our absolute hardest to make it a reality.’
Originally Ryan and his team earmarked May 2017 as a target date for a puck to finally drop on Antarctica but this may come a little early.
‘We had originally set the date for May, but unfortunately, I am not sure we are going to meet that deadline.’
‘We’ve determined that the logistics and planning are quite a bit of work, so we are slightly delayed here. I am very confident in my team and I know for certain this event will happen, it’s just a matter of when, where and how – which is our main concern and focus right now.’
‘We are in contact with a few different organizations and government bodies about these locations and are working to get it sorted now.’
To find out more visit the website: http://www.antarctichockey.com/ or follow/like their page on Facebook at Antarctic Hockey as that is updated more frequently.
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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