Justin Kaufenberg spent most of his summer and nearly every day since mucking around with ice augers, rink boards and wooden hockey goals.

That may sound extreme even in the State of Hockey. But it's all part of the "completely unsexy" behind-the-scenes work that goes into staging the sixth-annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, taking place Jan. 21-23 on Lake Nokomis, according to Kaufenberg.

Roughly 300 teams from more than 30 states will compete in front of perhaps 20,000 spectators expected over the course of the tournament. Hockey Hall of Fame member Phil Esposito, is one of two dozen former NHL and Olympic players who will be on the ice, along with close to 100 former Division-I hockey players...