PETERBOROUGH — The ConVal hockey team needed some ice time heading into its first game of 2012.

Each year, the school holiday break makes practices difficult, and the first week back to school this time around didn’t get much better.

The Cougars are fortunate enough to have use of the Winchendon School’s arena for its games and practices.

But ConVal is not the only school or program that pays for its use and that, along with its schedule, led to an odd occurrence.

If the team followed its plan for the first week back prior to Saturday’s game with Portsmouth, the team would have had three full days off prior to playing the .500 Clippers on the road.

After its worst defeat of the season on Dec. 21, the Cougars only practiced on Dec. 23 and 30 over the winter break.

On Monday of last week, a scheduling conflict cut their ice time to 25 minutes and Tuesday’s practice was the full length of one hour. But that was it for the week.

With such limited time, there was no way that McLaughlin could allow that much time off prior to playing Portsmouth.

The same scenario took place a year ago and ConVal was down 5-0 after the first period and lost 8-0.

“If we didn’t do anything, the kids would have been sitting on their hands for three days rolling into Portsmouth,” said McLaughlin.

So McLaughlin decided to do something a little outside the box.

He knew there was a little pond off of Cheney Avenue in Peterborough and contacted the landowner.

With permission to skate the pond that doubles as a swampy marsh during the warm months, the Cougars took to the ice on Thursday for a little warm-up to Portsmouth.

“This is some of the realities to not having a rink at your disposal,” said McLaughlin.

It was far from the kind of environment the team was accustomed to using for a practice. There was no zamboni making the ice smooth and no boards to outline the playing surface.

“I’ve been skating there for 12 years,” said senior assistant captain Cam Walton. “I would go down there every winter. It brought back a ton of memories of going to that pond with friends or family.”

This was more of a throwback to the days when most of the players learned how to skate. There were grass edges to the ice and parts that were a bit under water.

“It was a good curveball to throw into our season,” Walton said. “It’s a lot tougher ice. It’s a lot harder to make quick turns. You really have to concentrate.”

If not for the extreme cold temperatures to begin last week, it is unlikely the ice would have held the team and coaching staff to make it even worthwhile.

But it all seemed to work out okay and the team got a solid hour-plus of practice time, amidst the 20-degree temperatures and snow flurries.

“I give them a lot of credit,” said McLaughlin. “They came out and concentrated and didn’t just go out there and play pond hockey.”

With a 0-3 record and a decent Portsmouth team coming up, the Cougars needed something to bring the team together.

“They were having a difficult time finding an identity,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin was hoping that a day of pond skating might do the trick.

Unfortunately, the Cougars lost for the fourth time to begin the season on Saturday, falling 6-3 to the Clippers.

For the third time in four games, ConVal either led or had been tied entering the third period. They were ahead 3-2 and just needed to add another score for a little breathing room.

That didn’t happen and Portsmouth took advantage of ConVal’s miscues. The Cougars were whistled for five penalties, while they had just four through the first two periods.

And the Clippers took advantage, going ahead for good with just over six minutes remaining.
While the team still remains winless, McLaughlin believes this team is moving in the right direction and Thursday was a big part of it.

“I think it went a long way,” McLaughlin said. “They’re trying. They’re working. They just can’t get over the proverbial hump.”

All it might take is a win to jump start the season, something the team hoped to find out last night when they hosted John Stark.

The Cougars travel to Souhegan on Saturday.

This article appears in the Jan. 5, 2012, edition of the Ledger-Transcript.