The Hockey Pond video was conceived during a very warm spell in January 2007. It had been well above freezing for weeks. And if you are reading this from outside of Southern Ontario, this is the time of year where we are supposed to be having sub-freezing temperatures, so that we can enjoy things like cross country skiing, snowshoeing and playing hockey on hockey ponds.
And what happens when that is not the case? People were generally out of sorts. “What is going on with our weather?” they ask. What is happening to our planet? It was a feeling that I was feeling myself, and really did want to express it.
The genesis of the idea was a conversation in the Guelph Farmers Market that spawned it for me. I met a friend at the Guelph Farmers Market and we spoke about how it was much more like canoing weather than hockey weather. There really is something to that.
One phone call to Angus McLellan later, and the next morning we are filming The Hockey Pond out on Guelph Lake.