More than 200 players from ages nine to 14 took to the ice in Sechelt and Gibsons last weekend for the first major minor hockey tournament on the Coast in years.
The Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association played host to the Spring Fling Spirit of 2010 Hockey Tournament, which featured a six-team atom division and an eight-team bantam division.
Play began Saturday with action in both arenas with the playoffs on Monday.
In the atom division, the Sechelt Oilers placed first as they defeated the Squamish Eagles in the championship final. Third place went to the Sechelt Panthers. Two teams from Powell River and one other team from Squamish rounded out the division.
On the bantam side, the Langley Hitmen defeated the Surrey Canucks in a shootout in an exciting championship final. The Seattle Eagles finished third, while the Sechelt Blues finished in seventh place. The Surrey Kings, Coquitlam Chiefs, Abbotsford Capitals and Squamish Eagles rounded out the other teams in the division.
A highlight for Sechelt was their final game against Squamish, which ended in a shootout. Brandon Munson scored the shootout winner, giving Sechelt the win.
"We saw some good hockey, very fast-paced, very exciting," said Roger Munn, who along with wife Christa co-ordinated the tournament. "We had a lot of positive comments. All the out of town teams said they were impressed with the new facility in Gibsons and were looking forward to coming back.
"We didn't finish as well as we wanted to in the bantam division, but the team played hard all weekend. They should be proud of themselves for their efforts."
Munn said there have been minor hockey tournaments held on the Coast in the past, but nothing as big as the tournament last weekend.In all, 32 games were played over three days.
"It was the two arenas that made this possible," he said. "A huge thanks should go out to the Sunshine Coast Regional District for making sure we had all the ice times, the ice cleans and working with us to make the tournament happen. We also had great support from a lot of volunteers."
Munn said one of the major highlights of the weekend was a skills competition held for both divisions. Dave Goyer from Sports Traders ran the atom division, while association president Darragh Workman ran the bantam division.
"I've seen it done at other tournaments and it's always been a hit with the kids," said Munn. "A lot of the teams said they had never done this before at a tournament and they really enjoyed it."
Every registered player at the tournament received a Spirit of 2010 hockey puck and a souvenir poster. The Spirit of 2010 Hockey Tournament is the largest of its kind ion Canada with more than 50,000 young athletes taking part in 225 tournaments around the province.
