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Ice Hockey in Byrnes Mill? Not very often. But the past week's weather conditions made the Echo Lake subdivion's little lake a servicible hockey rink for three intrepid hockey players Sunday morning.
The three showed up on the lake at 7:00 a.m. and were still going strong mid-morning when photographer and subdivision resident Grant MacLaren took these photos.
Temperature was close to 60 later in the day.
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Here's the text from a story in the MERAMEC JOURNAL:
BYRNES MILL: 'Cutthroat' on Echo Lake
By Kevin Carbery
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 1:15 PM CST
On the morning of Jan. 27, Byrnes Mill Alderman Grant MacLaren glanced out at Echo Lake in the city and saw something he had never spotted before: Hockey players.
Though temperatures would leap later in the day, the air was still cold and the ice still solid when Justin Buchheit of Byrnes Mill, Adam Vogelpohl of Arnold and Matt James of south St. Louis County started skating on Echo Lake.
MacLaren took some photographs of the hockey players and submitted them to the Journal. Lynn Buchheit, mother of Justin Buchheit, acknowledged that it was the first time she had seen anyone willing to go skating on the lake.
"We've lived here; it will be two years in March," she said. "That's the first time they've been able to skate on the lake.
"It was so exciting. They loved it. My husband checked it to make sure it was safe. They came in when it started warming up."
Justin Buchheit said the short time his group spent on the icy lake could be the start of bigger events to come.
"It was the first time we'd gotten to skate on the pond at Echo Lake Subdivision," he said. "I was there with buddies from my roller hockey team. My dad (Ron Buchheit) played a little.
"We've never seen anyone playing hockey out there before. This was the first year it was cold enough to do it."
The teens played "cutthroat," which means it was everybody against everybody.
"We brought down my hockey goal and played two-on-one," Justin Buchheit said. "We just rotated every game."
Justin is a freshman at Northwest High School who plays for the school's hockey club. He said he has drawn interest in possible future hockey games at Echo Lake from members of Northwest's hockey team.
"If we do it again, we want more players," he said. "I told the guys on my hockey team and they said they want to do it next time.
"It's more fun to play on a pond. I just like being outside more."
But, before the ice will be ready again, the area needs a sustained bout of cold, said Justin Buchheit.
"If the conditions are right, we'll do it again," he said. "You need about four days in a row of under 30 degrees."
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