Remembering Fitzy
Annual Fitzy Memorial Hockey Tournament opens today in Whitney Pier
The seventh annual Fitzy Memorial Hockey Tournament will be held this weekend at the Whitney Pier Community Rink.
The games are held in honour of Matthew Fitzgerald, who died in a motor vehicle accident in 2012, as part of the family’s plans to heal and bring the hockey community together to ensure he will never be forgotten.
The tournament will feature peewee gams as well as gentlemen’s recreational and competitive divisions.
The three-day event will begin today with six games on the schedule. The opening ceremony
will be held at 5 p.m.
Saturday will see 12 games played, followed by the championship contests on Sunday.
In total, four peewee teams will
participate along with six teams in both the recreational and competitive divisions.
Each year, the family presents a $2,500 scholarship to a Grade 12
student who is pursuing a career in the trades industry.
The student receives the award during graduation in June and has the opportunity to drop the puck at centre ice for the official opening of the tournament in December.
This year’s recipient is Jesse Delorey, a former Sydney Academy student who has since moved on to begin his carpentry trade training at the Nova Scotia Community College, Marconi Campus.
In 2009, Delorey lost his younger brother, James, in what would become a nationwide outpouring of grief.
Delorey, along with his mother Veronica Fraser, Brad Fitzgerald and Natalie Paris — Matthew’s mother — will meet at centre ice for the opening faceoff.