The Frozen Louis: Bike polo players in Winnipeg for tournament

A handful of bike polo players from Ontario, Saskatchewan and the U.S. rolled into Winnipeg this weekend, mallets in hand, to take part in a yearly tournament that doffs its hat to Louis Riel.

This year marks the fourth annual Frozen Louis, pitting teams against each other in competition for the eponymous trophy itself, retrofitted from an old lamp and named after the historic Manitoba figure.

"It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, a nod to the founder of Manitoba, and we picked it because it's the long weekend," said Zach Allard, who's playing in and helped organize the tournament.

Bike polo is an adaptation of regular polo, or horse polo, played on bicycles on courts with nets at either end and borrowing many of its rules from hockey, Allard said. Each team has three players on the court at a time, and there are no set positions -- not even a goalie.

Teams are typically co-ed, a principal Allard said is held dear to many players at all levels of play.

"It's definitely a game that has taken into consideration that a lot of sports are male-dominated, and therefore we really try to make a point to include as many different people as we can."

'A community thing'

In Winnipeg, bike polo is headed up by the Winnipeg Urban Polo Association, Allard said. The group organizes the Frozen Louis every year.

"It's definitely known to be a really fun, easy-going tournament, especially for new players," Allard said. "That's kind of our goal, is to recruit new players."

Aside from bike polo, the tournament includes a chili competition, he added.

This year's competition brought out 12 teams of three players each, including athletes from Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Calgary and Minnesota.

"I think it is … a community thing, [to see] these people that we've known a good while," said Greg Rooke, who came from Saskatoon with a team to play in the tournament.

"It's also … in our own town, in Saskatoon, there's 20 players or so, so we get maybe a little tired of playing against the same people. We come out here to get some new games in against a different crowd."

The tournament got started on Friday and will wrap up Sunday at the Duncan Sportsplex in downtown Winnipeg.