Inside the Islanders Day Playing Pond Hockey at Lee's House

In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, only one of them featured a full NHL team on Sunday afternoon.

The New York Islanders were looking to play a little pond hockey on their day off in Minnesota and Edina native Anders Lee knew the perfect place.

His backyard.

The Islanders’ captain invited his teammates over to his house on Sunday for a little pond hockey and some team bonding.

“[It’s a] dream scenario for me to be able to have an ice rink in my backyard,” Lee said. “Neighbor helped me out and had his rink going in the back and the boys showed up yesterday, and just had a wonderful day together, skating, hanging out, watching the football games and enjoy each other's company.”

Lee’s neighbor, Ted, built and maintained the rink for his kids, but made sure it was ready for the Isles when they rolled into town, skates and sticks in hand.

The ticks were thrown in the middle to pick teams, which grew to 17-on-17 once the neighborhood kids caught wind and began funneling onto the ice. There was a firepit to keep warm and excess snow was dutifully shoveled by Simon Holmstrom, Emil Heineman and Cole McWard.

It was cold. It was picturesque. It was perfect.

“It was awesome,” Anthony Duclair said. “The last time I skated on an outdoor rink was back in my childhood, so definitely brought a lot of memories back. Just good to see the boys having fun and getting away from the rink and skating in a different setting. Leesy and his family was very gracious to host the boys and we had a great day off.”

Pond hockey harkens back to childhood for the Islanders, so Lee told the team to bring a favorite childhood jersey with them. Matthew Schaefer wore a Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs jersey, Scott Mayfield sported his alma mater – the University of Denver – and Lee donned his Edina Hornets high school jersey. Some of older jerseys had to be shipped from family homes, but for those who didn’t have a jersey, they had the opportunity to raid Lee’s collection, which is how Mathew Barzal wound up sporting one of Lee’s black alternate jerseys from the Isles 2015-16 season. David Rittich took a few laps as a forward with a Joe Sakic Quebec Nordiques uniform, though it’s unclear where he got it. Lee also supplied the trapper hats and mittens.

With Rittich skating out and Ilya Sorokin watching from the sidelines, Casey Cizikas tried his hand in goal, albeit without pads, and gave it a valiant effort. Patrick Roy has preached playing with joy this season for the Islanders, and there was plenty of that on the pond on Sunday.

“I see the joy in our group right now,” Roy said, also crediting his team for being focused for a good practice on Monday. “I think that's great for the chemistry of the team, and I felt like the guys seems to enjoy themselves, and that's what the game should be all about.”

Afterwards, Lee hosted the team, trainers and staff for some NFL playoff – and Spanish Super Cup – action, packing the couches, finding floorspace and even firing up the mini sticks. It was team bonding at its finest, which isn’t always easy to schedule in a winter city, especially in the midst of a season-long, 16-day road trip.

“We love getting together as group, but depending on the schedule and what we do and where we are, it's tough to find a good activity sometimes,” Lee said. “This was a perfect one to do, where can just be with each other, laugh a bunch all day and watch the games, just spend time with each other in a relaxed setting.”

Most of the Islanders have played in one of the NHL’s outdoor games and those are fun in all of their grandeur, but there was something in the simplicity of Sunday, proving that sometimes all you need for a memorable hockey experience is players, pucks and a pond.