‘The Edd’ begins
Summerside, Charlottetown win opening games of Edd McNeill Memorial tournament
It’s a big weekend at The Plex. Ten of the top peewee AAA teams from across the Maritimes are competing in the 19th annual Edd McNeill Memorial hockey tournament.
Play in ‘The Edd’ began on Thursday evening with two games – the Summerside Capitals defeated the Western Warriors 7-0 and the Charlottetown Abbies topped the SherwoodParkdale Falcons 4-1. The Kings County Kings are the other participating P.E.I. team.
Caps 7 Warriors 0
Ethan Gallant (2-1), Jesse Blanchard (2-1), Clark Allain (1-2), Sid McNeill and Xavier Dalton scored for the Caps, who received assists from Jesse Johnston (2), Liam Sullivan (2), Aiden Arsenault, Cole Hemphill, Alex Mann and Rankin Noye.
Kiefer Thompson posted the shutout as the Caps built period leads of 2-0 and 5-0.
Abbies 4 Falcons 1
Cameron Squires (2-1), Bates Ling (1-1) and Brennan Murphy scored for the Abbies, who led 1-0 after one period and 2-1 following the second. Landon MacDonald, Chris Koughan, Isaac Vos and Jack Rowell added assists.
Caden Doyle, assisted by Colby Huggan, netted the Falcons’ lone goal. Winning goaltender was Jackson Howatt.
Format
The teams are divided into two five-team pools – Conor Shea Division and Kameron Cooke Division. Round-robin play goes all day on Friday and Saturday, with the playoffs starting on Sunday morning. The secondand third-place teams will play quarter-final games, with the two first-place clubs earning byes directly to the semifinals. The championship game is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. Another highlight of the weekend is the skills competition, which will take place from 7:15 to 9:15 p.m. on Saturday. A total of 25 games will be played between Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Active in sports
The tournament honours the memory of McNeill, who was from Richmond and was very active in the local sporting scene. Along with providing outstanding support to his children and grand children, McNeill also played, coached and sponsored many ball and hockey teams over the years.
“Edd truly believed that children developed necessary life skills by participating in various sports,” reads a tribute in this year’s tournament program, which goes on to say: “Edd will also be remembered as a great father, grandfather, a true hockey fan and a wonderful supporter of our national sport. As Edd would say, ‘You know yourself.’”