What is the Frozen Fish Fiasco?

The Frozen Fish Fiasco is an annual set of outdoor hockey games at the Clark Park Ice Rink in Detroit, Michigan. The games pit amateur teams from different youth hockey organizations in the surrounding Metropolitan Detroit area against one another and culminate with a game between the organizing team, the Cedar Point Carp and the Faurecia Whalers.

Who does the Frozen Fish Fiasco benefit?

100% of the money the Fiasco raises goes to the Clark Park Coalition!

How did the Frozen Fish Fiasco get started?

In 2010, the members of two local adult hockey teams from the Labatt Hockey Detroit 'A' league – the Cedar Point Carp and the Faurecia Whalers – got together to generate and execute a plan to raise money for the Coalition to help keep this historic park open and running. They created the Frozen Fish Fiasco.

The first Fiasco involved only two games and minimal fund-raising, but it was a success, with hockey players, young and (very) old, getting the unique experience of playing an outdoor game and the Coalition receiving some of the additional funding it so desperately requires. Its success led to a second, third and fourth Fiasco, which were similarly successful in sharing this unique event with even more excited young hockey players and raising more funds for the Coalition. Donations have exceeded $135,000 from the first seven events.

When is The Frozen Fish Fiasco this year?

February 3-4 2024

Hockey Rink

1130 Clark Ave, Detroit, MI 482090

Bus Pickup & After Party

House of Shamrocks 23420 John R Hazel Park, MI 48030

Where is Clark Park and what makes it unique?

Clark Park is in southwest Detroit. It operates year-round to host festivals, concerts and special events, serves as a popular meeting place for family picnics and gatherings, and provides free lunches to more than 100 children daily throughout the summer. It also features the only regulation-sized outdoor ICE HOCKEY rink within the city's confines and runs the CPCH program out of the rink.
The physical address is 1130 Clark St., Detroit, Michigan.

What is the Clark Park Coaliation?

The Clark Park Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which works with the City of Detroit to maintain and operate Clark Park in southwest Detroit, Michigan, and collects new and used-but-still-in-good condition ice hockey equipment for participants of the Clark Park Coalition Hockey (CPCH) program.

Once upon a time, the Detroit Recreation Department funded and staffed the Park, but the City of Detroit's financial crisis led to its closure in 1991. Concerned citizens subsequently formed a nonprofit organization, The Clark Park Coalition, to partner with the City of Detroit's Recreation Department on a public-private collaboration. As a result, Clark Park remains open and able to serve as one of the community's anchors, providing year-round programming for those who use it.

The collaboration between the City and the Coalition has been insufficient to keep the many of the Park's amenities, including the outdoor rink, operating at peak condition. While hundreds of volunteers donate their time and energy each year to help with the park's upkeep, the park's greatest need remains additional funding.

Unfortunately, the need for funding has been compounded by the tough times the City of Detroit has faced and continues to face, the thrusting of additional staggering expenses (for Clark Park utilities) on the Coalition, and the anticipation that, when the city begins making additional cuts, city contributions to recreational programs will be one of the first made.

For more information about the Coalition, and all that its members do, please check out The Clark Park Coalition's website.

Why does the Frozen Fish Fiasco partner with Clark Park and the Clark Park Coalition?

Given Clark Park's amenities and the Coalition's needs, the Park is a perfect venue for, and the Coalition is the perfect beneficiary of, the Frozen Fish Fiasco!