Joy of hockey crowns Bell Capital Cup
Focus of world’s largest tourney shifts to 20th anniversary edition next year
This time next year we’ll be looking back at the 20th Bell Capital Cup, potentially in awe of special surprises the organizing committee would have brought to the anniversary edition of what’s touted as the world’s largest hockey tournament.
Today, though, we’re looking back at a successful 19th edition that once again brought together thousands of minor hockey players for a celebration of hockey. The love of the game, passion and dedication of volunteers and the joy that come with hockey were on full display over four days at rinks across the national capital region.
Various divisions featured house league and competitive teams, boys and girls and players with developmental disabilities.
While they added special Canada 150 divisions for boys and girls to cap a year of celebrations, organizers also shortened the tournament for each team.
“Back in the day, if you went to the championship game in some divisions, you could be here for the entire five-day period,” tournament general manager Scott Lawryk said. “We tried to turn it into a time commitment that is on par with a regular weekend hockey tournament. For competitive divisions, we stagger-started them. We started a handful of divisions on the 27th, and a bunch more started on the 28th, and the AAA started Friday. So the time commitment for a competitive team, if you make it all the way to the final, you’re only here for three days. That turns it more into what a standard tournament would be like. The house league teams can play over four days, but the only way you play that fourth day is if you make a championship final.
“We found that life is so busy that people want to take that Christmas time as family time. They still want to come to the tournament, but a three-day commitment is much easier than a five-day commitment.”
The 2017 tournament wrapped up Sunday with seven championship games at Canadian Tire Centre, wrapped around the Sens Skills competition of the Senators.
The first two finals of the day featured Canada 150 action.
Alberta and New Brunswick faced off in the girls final having
They still want to come to the tournament, but a three-day commitment is much easier than a five-day commitment.
compiled 5-0 records through round robin and playoff rounds, and Alberta prevailed 3-2 in overtime.
Similarly, Manitoba and Yukon entered the boys’ final with 5-0 marks, with Manitoba rolling to a 6-0 triumph to claim the division championship.
In the other morning final, the Brockville Junior Braves defeated North Dundas 3-2 in overtime, with Mason Hodge completing a hat trick to give his team the victory.
The four after championship games featured the elite divisions.
The Eastern Ontario Wild won the major peewee AAA final 3-2 against the Providence Capitals, while the Ottawa Valley Silver Sevens downed the Syracuse Nationals 7-5 in the minor peewee AAA final. In the minor atom AAA final, the Central Ontario Wolves defeated the Whitby Wildcats 5-1, while the Long Island Gulls topped the Gloucester Rangers 3-1 for the major atom AAA crown.
Now the focus shifts to the 20th anniversary of the Bell Capital Cup.
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t really gotten to that point yet,” Lawryk said. “It’s like we do every year. We’ll kind of debrief and we’ll have discussions as to what we can do to celebrate the 20th year, which is obviously a big thing for us. We don’t have anything concrete yet.”