Over Minnesota Educator Academy (MEA) weekend, The Pond in Rosemount is putting on a tournament that is truly one-of-a-kind.

With age and difficulty levels spanning Mini-Mites, Intermediate Mites, Advanced Mites and Squirts, the Spooktacular 3-on-3 Tournament is a hockey-tinted view of the way Halloween season and mid-October should be welcomed in the State of Hockey. 

Wednesday Oct. 17 kicked off the first day of competition for the Spooktacular, with Green Ghosts taking on the early front-runner for best team name, the Count Puck-ulas at the Mini-Mite level. 

The game was hockey in its purest form, with pint-sized skating and stickhandling dictating the flow of the game in which the Green Ghosts came out on top. 

The Minnesota Wave took the other Mini-Mite game in a win over the Dragons.

In the Mini-Mite Division, teams play 4-on-4 instead of 3-on-3.

Team Warrior slipped past the Hockey Monkeys in the Advanced Mite division, led by hat-tricks from Nate Wilke and Cole Baumgarner.

The Intermediate Mites will begin play on Day 2 of competition.  

Team Warrior also emerged victorious at the Squirt level with a 16-11 win over The Great Pumpkins. 

Conrad Fondrk, Casper Lang and Avaughn Dorvil all scored Hatty’s for Team Warriors, while Grace McCoshen and Raegen Nash scored Hatty’s of their own for The Great Pumpkins.

Hat-Trick or Treat Skaters cored a win over Tommy Chicago Gold in the other Squirt Division matchup.

At this level, the greatest reward for a spectator or coach is a player’s jack-o-lantern smile erupting underneath a slightly-too-big wire facemask.