As a hockey enthusiast, Jeff Reagan knows a thing or two about the game.
Growing up in Concord, Reagan would lace up his skates and hit up the local ponds for a game of pickup any chance he got. In fact, even though he went away for college and now lives in the big city of New York, Reagan still enjoys a good skate on the White Park pond. That is, when there’s ice on it, of course.
So when his dad, John, kept pushing for him to do something with the 1883 Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship, Reagan got to thinking. Last winter was his first since graduating from Ithaca and he had been looking for his first film project outside of school. Without a full-time job, the timing just seemed right – along with the fact that his dad gave him another friendly reminder.
“He’s like a kid at Christmas when the tournament comes around,” Reagan said of his dad.
Armed with a camera and some audio equipment he borrowed from a friend, Reagan braved the cold weather and set to find out more about this tournament that began in 2011. We know the 1883 part is confusing, since the tournament has only been in existence for four years, but the year is in reference to Nov. 17, 1883, when the first organized hockey game in the United States occurred at St. Paul’s School’s Lower Pond. Now that’s a nice piece of history for Concord to hang it’s hat on.
“It’s just basically about how the tournament started and more importantly how it brings this small community of Concord together,” Reagan said. “There’s a lot of hometown nostalgia.”
Reagan knew the three-day tournament was popular and that teams came from all over New Hampshire, bordering New England states and places like Miami to take part. Who knew they played hockey in Miami? We thought people only traveled south in the winter? And of course, with people like his dad playing in it, Reagan knew there would be some good information at White Park.
“I’m using people from the community to tell this story,” Reagan said. “That’s the most important asset of the piece.”
But it wasn’t until Reagan witnessed what the tournament had to offer that he truly got a feel for what it all means. With almost 90 teams in six pisions separated by age and ability, Concord has become the hub for pond hockey one weekend every January. And Reagan got it all on film.
“When you’re doing a documentary, you’ve got to be a fly on the wall. You’ve always got to keep your camera and sound running,” Reagan said. “It’s probably the most natural and organic thing I’ve made.”
His documentary, appropriately titled Black Ice, will be shown for the first time to a live audience this Saturday, and you can be a part of it. Black Ice will be shown as part of the Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival in the 2 p.m. time slot at Red River Theatres. But don’t worry if you can’t make it, the film will be shown again on Sunday at 3 p.m. Reagan also had his senior thesis, Type Right, shown at the S.N.O.B. last year.
It’s only right that a documentary about Concord is shown for the first time in Concord. But that’s also because Reagan was in town just last week shooting his final scene with tournament organizer Chris Brown and completing the editing process about a week before its debut. Talk about working well under pressure.
“Usually you want all your footage in weeks before,” Reagan said.
Not only did Reagan learn how much people in this area love their hockey, but he found a lot of people outside of it feel the same way. We’re talking about 30, 40 and 50 year olds skating around smaller sized rinks without a care in the world.
“Everyone acts like they’re 10 years old,” Reagan said.
And you’ll see it first hand when you show up at Red River to watch the film.
The biggest problem Reagan faced (outside of finishing it) was getting it to fit the time length he was looking for. With over five hours of footage and a desire to have his documentary be around 16 minutes running time, there were a lot of tough decisions. But it’s probably better to have too much than not enough – like when it comes to candy after Halloween and pie following Thanksgiving.
“There have been parts I’ve had to cut that were hard. I could have easily made this into an hour-long documentary,” Reagan said. “But I don’t want it to be too long.”
Reagan will be at Saturday’s showing and expects a good group of supporters – like his dad, who should get some sort of recognition in the credits for suggesting the project. If not, he got plenty from us.
And as his first out of school project, Reagan can’t wait for people to see it.
“What I’m most proud about is that this is something I got to do because I wanted to do it,” he said.
