PRESS RELEASE
THE ROTARY/MINOR HOCKEY TOURNAMENT
32ND ANNIVERSARY
December 27th to December 30th
It’s that time of year again where plummeting temperatures and soaring spirits all come together to create a spectacular display of minor hockey talent.
The Stratford Minor Hockey Association and the Rotary Club of Stratford are thrilled to announce the 32nd annual Christmas hockey tournament scheduled to take place beginning December 27th, 2004.
Approximately 800 young athletes from local and distant teams will be demonstrating their talents and sportsmanship as they compete in a series of games over the four-day period. Winners of this tournament are awarded the qualification to compete in the prestigious International Silver Stick Tournament.
The International Silver Stick Tournament brings together young hockey players from all over North America in a sporting competition designed to promote citizenship and international goodwill . Port Huron, Michigan, will host the PeeWee and Bantam finals while the Atom and Midget Finals will be held in Sarnia, Ontario. The Minor Atom, Minor PeeWee, Minor Bantam, and Minor Midget Finals will be held in Newmarket, Ontario.
The Opening Ceremony for this year’s Rotary/Minor Hockey Tournament will be held on Monday, December 27th at 6:30 pm at the William Allman Arena. The series of games will be held at both the William Allman arena and the Rotary arena located at the coliseum. Bantams and Midgets will be facing-off at the Allman arena while the Atoms and PeeWees will be strutting their stuff at the Rotary arena.
The first game at the Allman begins at 9:10 a.m. on Monday the 27th. Starting off the tournament at the Allman arena, the Stratford Warriors will compete against the Guelph Storm in the Minor Bantam division. And kicking things off at the Rotary arena at 8:00 a.m.will be the Stratford Warriors vs. the Streetsville Tigers in the Minor Atom division.
After an exciting three days of stellar competition, the semi-finalists of each level will go on to play in the championship games slated to start at 1:00 p.m. on December 30th.
All together, eight trophies will be awarded.
It all began in 1972 when Rotary President, Dr. John Pyper led the club’s efforts in the $100,000 creation of a Rotary arena at the Fairgrounds. Dr. Pyper then approached the Stratford Minor Hockey League with the idea of a Christmas tournament. “We had three good arenas in Stratford—the Allman arena, the Dufferin arena, and now the Rotary arena. It just made sense to give our kids a chance to compete in good, local arenas,” Dr. Pyper said when asked why he came up with the idea.
Over the years, Stratford Minor Hockey and the Rotary Club of Stratford have teamed up to organize one of the best minor hockey events of the year. With many local hotels, shops, restaurants, and businesses getting involved as sponsors and promoting the tournament through special pricing, this has become a highly regarded community Christmas event.
In addition to an exciting four days of competition, tickets for the Big Six draw are sold with proceeds being split between the two organizations. “It’s our major fund raiser of the year,” stated Jack McNaughton, this year’s Tournament Chair. “Stratford Minor Hockey puts their portion of the proceeds right back into local minor hockey to help lower costs for the kids. Ice time has gotten expensive.” Mr. McNaughton also explained that by having the tournament here in Stratford, it allowed local kids and their families to stay local during Christmas. “Entire families come out for this including the grandmas and the grandpas. It really fosters a family atmosphere.”
The Rotary Club of Stratford uses their funds towards a variety of community projects. Currently, the Rotary Respite House, a place where medically fragile children can receive optimum care while giving their families a break from the demanding schedule of caring for such a child, is a prominent cause. The Respite House opened its doors just this year, and already many area families are finding the service invaluable.
For almost 32 years, the Rotary/Minor Hockey Tournament has been giving youngsters a chance to demonstrate their hockey skills while engaging in a competition geared towards promoting international goodwill and sportsmanship. Teams from all over Ontario, the United States, and even from Europe come to Stratford for this event. To date, approximately 1145 teams have competed in this event giving more than 24,500 boys and girls a chance to be part of a rewarding experience.
Because tomorrow’s stars are seen in today’s competitions, perhaps another Tim Taylor will be among the players!
More information can be found on the Rotary website www.rotarystratford.com
And on the Stratford Minor
Hockey Association website at www.stratfordhockey.ca
For more information about this event for editorial
purposes, please call Gary Lingard (519)-273-0296