Classic hockey
O’Leary Recreation Department hosting 43-team competition at five rinks
With 43 teams entered and 77 games on the schedule, all hockey rinks west of Summerside will be used for the Dec. 1-3 Mill River Resort Hockey Classic.
The O’Leary Recreation Department is organizing the tournament, now in its fourth year.
The level of participation has increased each year, more than doubling from last year’s 21 teams, prompting the need to involve all western P.E.I arenas from Abram-Village to Tignish.
“We started off on the right foot this year. We advertised earlier, letting the provinces know we were operating the event again,” said O’Leary recreation director Jeff Ellsworth, who is organizing the event. O’Leary recreation committee chairman Joey Dumville speculates all of the exposure the town got in being named Kraft Hockeyville 2017 added to the attraction.
Ellsworth said he’s pleased to have the Mill River Resort jump on board as the major sponsor this year.
Greco Pizza is also involved, supplying 154 player-of-thegame awards.
The tournament added a bantam boys division this year, attracting 12 new teams. There are 10 teams each in the atom and peewee boys divisions as well as three novice girls and eight novice boys’ teams.
There are 11 off-island teams entered. Ellsworth said the early notification allowed for teams to fit the tournament into their schedules.
He estimated the economic spin-off to the region in having 43 teams participating, to be between a $500,000 and $750,000. Organizers hope to continue to grow the tournament, by adding a midget division next year.
Ellsworth praised the cooperation of the local minor hockey organizations and the local arenas, pointing out a tournament this size could not happen without their support. The O’Leary Community Sports Centre, the heart of Hockeyville, will be used for the first three games on the schedule, Dec. 1 at 8, 9:10 and 10:20 a.m. From 11:30 a.m. onward, there will be games taking place in Tignish, Alberton, Tyne Valley and Abram-Village as well as in O’Leary.