OAKLAND — A broad smile on his gray-bearded face, Mike Sabatini fought for position on the McGrath Pond ice, out-angling another player to nab the sliding hockey puck as it bounced off the boards, and taking it to the makeshift goal, where he scored one for his team of friends from the Midcoast area, the Seahawks.

Sabatini, 58, of Camden, was in Oakland for the 14th Maine Pond Hockey Classic, a fundraiser for the Alfond Youth & Community Center in Waterville. But with a little imagination and nostalgia, he could have been in any of the countless backyard, pond or lake makeshift hockey rinks where he and most of the other players to take to the ice over the weekend first played the game, many years ago, as kids.

His teammate, Andrew Marshall, 54, of Montville, said playing pond hockey outside is “the essence of hockey.”

Sabatini agreed, saying there was nothing better than playing outside, as a light snow fell, and spending time with his friends.

Their team name, the Seahawks, is the same name as the men’s league team that some of the team members played on in the mid-1970s.

About 500 players, on 66 teams, came to Camp Tracy on McGrath Pond for the classic, which for the past several years was held at Snow Pond Center for the Arts in Sidney.

Organizer Patrick Guerette, of Waterville, said Saturday that the new venue was working out great, with some 20 inches of ice to support the hundreds of players and their families, between 100 and 150 volunteers, as well as trucks and equipment needed to put on the tournament, with the rinks set in a bit of a cove to help protect participants from the wind.

The weather is a major factor when you’re playing out on a lake or pond, not in an enclosed hockey rink. But most of the players probably know that, with many having first played the game of hockey on a small rink they shoveled or plowed off themselves, as kids.

“There’s some nostalgia to it, a lot of these guys, their early years playing were on a pond,” Guerette said. “For some of the others, who’ve only played inside in a rink, it’s an opportunity to try something different. To me, it’s less about the hockey, and more about just coming together and being connected.”

There is no checking allowed, nor are there goalies, in the four-on-four adult games. The games were often fast-moving and free of violence.

The Biscuit Brothers, true to their name, gave their opponents biscuits after playing them.

Ben Bisler, of the Biscuit Brothers, came from Ohio to play in the tournament, the third year he has come to Maine to play in it, and visit with his brother, who lives in Kittery.

Biscuit is also a slang term for a hockey puck.

“It’s fun, just have some beers, get outside, have a good time, play hockey and meet some cool people,” Bisler said, after offering his teammates a beer from the bucket of beers he bought at the onsite beer vendor.

Food trucks were also on hand, fire pits were numerous, and tents were set up where players and spectators could take shelter from the cold. Further out on the pond, ice fishermen and snowmobilers went about their days. Spectators were mostly family members, though the site did get a visit from a small group of people who walked down the pond in Viking-style gear, including men in horned hats and a small child carrying a giant, fake battle axe.

Pat Skall, 41, of Gorham, wearing a yellow and white shirt with the team name Bad Knees Bears, has come to the pond hockey classic for eight years, with the same group of guys. They used to play in the more competitive divisions of the tournament, but now, as they’ve gotten older, have settled into the “just for fun” division.

“The ice conditions are great, I’d say the best we’ve had,” Skall said between games. “It’s fun. I just ran into some people I played squirts and peewee hockey with when we were kids. And you meet lots of great new people.”

Skall still laces up his skates regularly, but now, mostly, to play with his kids.

He said it’s a great game for kids to play because at first it seems scary, to be going so fast on ice skates. He said overcoming that initial fear teaches kids that they can persevere to get through things that may seem scary at first, but then turn out to be fun.

A youth version of the hockey tournament is planned the weekend of Feb. 13-15.

The rinks are flooded at night to resurface them. They’re surrounded by 2×6 boards to contain, mostly, the pucks, and volunteers make repairs to cracks in the ice with a “slush bucket” between games. Lights on the site allowed for some night hockey games Friday night. The adult tournament was scheduled to continue Sunday.

Last year the event raised about $72,000 for the Alfond Youth & Community Center.