Following the Feb. 7-9 event at the Sundre Arena, Shawn MacNeil, the league’s president, said that the intent is less about crowning champions and more about celebrating the love of the game with a focus on sportsmanship.
“It’s just a fun tournament to give the players a chance to play in a tournament setting,” said MacNeil.
This is the third year in a row that volunteers from the Sundre Daycare Centre, who ran a raffle table as well as a 50/50, joined in on the tournament that has been held for roughly 20 years. The raffle featured 32 prizes that were up for grabs, courtesy of contributions from local businesses and individuals, for which MacNeil expressed gratitude.
“We really appreciate the support of the community on that,” he said.
“It’s those people that help keep these programs running.”
Chantel Sommerfeld, a former Sundre Daycare Centre president who is involved with the league and helps to coordinate between the two organizations for the fun tournament, said about $3,380 was raised between the raffle and 50/50. Proceeds support the daycare centre, which sponsors the event by covering the cost of the ice time as well as referees, she said.
Including the four home squads, there were a dozen teams that hit the ice, with players coming from Cremona, Didsbury, Rocky Mountain House as well as Olds. That broke down into four tiers, each of which had three teams, said MacNeil, adding they all got to play two games.
“Each one of our home teams invite out-of-town teams,” he said.
In the past, there have occasionally been five tiers playing in the fun tournament, but the numbers weren’t there for that to happen this year, he said.
All of the players in tiers 1 and 2 received medals, with tiers 3 and 4 players given gift cards to Dairy Queen. Additionally, sportsmanship tuques from Smart’s Trophies were presented to one player from each team every game, he said.
“It went really well,” he said, adding, organizers heard “a lot of positive feedback.”
Generally speaking, the league strives to participate in at least one away tournament, as well as the event on home ice, he said, adding most Sundre teams had earlier this season played in Cremona in January.
With the season now nearing its end, the Sundre league’s four teams each have just a few games and practices remaining, he said.
“We go right to the end of March.”
During the last weekend that month, each team will get 1 1/2 hours on the ice for parents versus kids games, followed by another 1 1/2 hours in the club room celebrating however each squad decides, he said, adding pizza parties tend to be a popular pick.
“It’s a fun way to wind up the season.”