RANGELEY – Cheeks bright red in Saturday’s chill, 4-year-old Sean Boudreau sat atop a hay bale on Haley Pond and cheered on his dad, Ray, during the first annual New England Pond Hockey Festival.

The Chelmsford, Mass., youngster was minutes away from getting hot chocolate, while his dad and three other men from the Boston area on Team Brine competed against Kent LaPage’s team, The Little Milkman, of Portsmouth, N.H.

“Go, Dad, go!” Boudreau yelled, not the least bit concerned about the below freezing temperatures. The men, on the other hand, were mostly exhausted. They were playing in their second of three to four games scheduled for each of the 10 teams who paid $600 apiece to enter the two-day tournament that ends Sunday.

“It’s very tough,” said Rangeley’s Mike Falconeri, 47, of The Happy Clams team, while taking a breather during their first game against Team Brine. “Pond hockey doesn’t stop like regular hockey. Here, it’s just sprint, sprint, sprint.”

Pond hockey originated in Canada and grew into a world championship event in the Village of Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, Canada. There, 300 teams compete on 22 ice rinks, New England Pond Hockey Festival event coordinator Linda Sikes of Rangeley said Saturday.

“Today’s event is the first one in Maine and it’s believed to be the first one in New England, and it’s sponsored by U.S. Hockey,” Sikes said. “We’ve had tremendous interest. I already have teams lined up to play next year. We’re anticipating 20 teams, so the rinks will double.”

Next year, there will be a division for men over age 50, one for children and another for women.

“This is an economic development project to further increase tourism to Rangeley, so we can offer diversification to use the resources we’ve got,” Rangeley Selectman and master of ceremonies Rob Welch said.

Opening ceremonies began at 10:30 a.m. Three ice skaters, Noah Sealy of Portland, Lynsie Bachelder and Stone Walton, both of Rangeley, carried the Maine, U.S. and Canadian flags onto Haley Pond, stopping in front of more than 50 players between the ages of 35 and 50.

Canada’s national anthem was played first, then Rangeley Lakes Regional School vocalists Emily George and Sam Oliveri sang the Star Spangled Banner, followed by event ice meister Jim Proctor, who fired off a small cannon, surprising nearly everyone with the booming blast.

Each team could have six players, but games were four-on-four format. No goal tenders were allowed, which created a lot of the sprints that Falconeri mentioned, with defensive players trying to catch up to offensive breakaway skaters.

Teams played two 15-minute halves on three rinks, each measuring 150 feet by 70 feet or 75 percent of regulation size. Goals didn’t consist of nets like regulation hockey, but, instead, wooden boards nailed into a skinny rectangle with two small slots in front.

During The Happy Clams vs. Team Brine game, several precision passes were made, including one behind-the-back pass by a Brine player in traffic to a teammate breaking toward the Clams goal that resulted in a dead-on shot into the goal.

Many of the players said they’d been playing ice hockey since they were toddlers, and really enjoyed being able to play Saturday.

Organizers also repeatedly thanked more than 60 volunteers who helped pull off the festival, and cleared the ice despite brutal subzero temperatures.

“The town really stepped up and made it happen,” co-organizer and player Deron Barton said.