NHL STREET Harbour Fest

NHL STREET Harbour Fest takes over the Emera Oval on the Halifax Common this weekend, September 12 and 13, for the first Halifax edition of the NHL STREET initiative. It's a joint programme from the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association, and the whole idea is to take grassroots hockey across North America and make the game more accessible. For these two days, the Common turns into a pop-up hockey village with custom NHL-branded rinks, skills zones, fan activations, a beer garden and a marketplace of hockey-themed merchandise.

The main draw is the 3-on-3 street hockey tournaments, with youth divisions for ages 7 to 18 and adult divisions split into recreational, intermediate, competitive, co-ed and women's. There's an opening ceremony with Mayor Andy Fillmore and the NHL's Rob Knesaurek, and the Rogers Stage will host live music from Brooklyn Blackmore, Michael Lloyd and Luke Levy. You'll also see a blind hockey demonstration by the Nova Scotia See Kings and the Moncton See Cats, and a panel on legacy and leadership in hockey featuring NHL alumni Georges Laraque and Bryce Salvador alongside Dean Smith of the Black Youth Ice Hockey Program. Hockey creator Coach Jeremy and the Stanley Cup will be making appearances too.

The whole thing leans on Nova Scotia's deep hockey heritage. The province has produced stars like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand, and its roots go back to Haligonian James Creighton, who helped organise the first recorded indoor hockey game in Montreal in 1875. Premier Tim Houston and Mayor Andy Fillmore have both described the province's hockey culture and its waterfront public spaces as a natural fit for the event.

It runs September 12 and 13 at the Emera Oval, 5775 Cogswell St, Halifax, NS B3K 4B2. It's free for spectators, so you can just wander in and watch the tournaments, catch the music on the Rogers Stage, or hang out in the beer garden.