The Montana Pond Hockey Classic will go on as scheduled in the Flathead Valley next weekend, even if organizers have to find an alternate location because of ice conditions.

An arctic cold front next week, however, may bring just the weather that pond hockey requires.

Sixty-one teams have registered for the hockey tournament planned Feb. 20-22, but a stretch of unseasonably warm weather has raised a question about whether it can be held as planned on Foy’s Lake southwest of Kalispell.

“We are monitoring the weather forecast and the current ice conditions on Foy’s Lake closely,” said Scott Crowder, Pond Hockey Classic commissioner. “Our goal is to host a safe and successful event in Montana.”

Crowder said a decision will be made Monday about the location of this year’s event. Officials are working to identify secondary locations.

“The event will happen, if not at Foy’s Lake then at an alternate location,” Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau Director Diane Medler stated Wednesday.

Organizers may catch a break since the National Weather Service is forecasting much colder weather by early next week. Temperatures will begin to cool late Saturday, but the stronger push of colder arctic air is expected Monday and Tuesday, the Weather Service has advised.

“Wind chills in the single digits look likely and possibly below zero in areas along the Continental Divide,” a weather advisory stated Wednesday.

Overnight low temperatures are forecast to dip to 9 degrees Monday and zero on Tuesday.

The Pond Hockey Classic, which stages similar tournaments in other parts of the United States, is working with the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau to host the second annual event in the Flathead Valley.

Among the more than five dozen teams registered, seven teams are from Kalispell, three from Whitefish and two from Lakeside. The other teams are coming from outside the Flathead, with a team from New Orleans making the longest journey.

“We look forward to a great event celebrating hockey in the outdoors,” Medler said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.