Beneath the ice of a small lake in the Kuzbass, about 300 miles from Novosibirsk, teams from across Siberia recently held an underwater ice hockey tournament. Using the lake’s frozen surface as a rink, the divers played inverted, wearing wetsuits and oxygen-tanks. It remains unclear which team won.
When played competitively, underwater ice hockey (not to be confused with underwater hockey, which is played at the bottom of a swimming pool) forbids the use of any breathing apparatuses. (During a game, players have to surface for air every 30 seconds or so.)
Teams from eight different countries participated in the first underwater ice hockey tournament in 2007, which Finland won. Austria won the second tournament in 2013.
This was the first underwater ice hockey game in the Kuzbass. Taking part were teams from six Siberian cities: Barnaul, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, and Jurga.