The 73rd Annual Goderich Young Canada Hockey Tournament Gets Underway at the Maitland Recreation Centre Friday March 8
by Bob Montgomery
The puck drops for the 73rd Annual Goderich Young Canada Hockey Tournament at two o'clock Friday afternoon at the Maitland Recreation Centre in Goderich with the official opening Friday evening.
Goderich Minor Hockey Secretary and Young Canada Week Tournament Vice Chair Tara Corriveau says when the tournament started back in 1950 it was solely a peewee tournament and it was basically brought about because there was a lack of tournaments for that age group. At the time, it was all divisions, Triple-A, Double-A, Minor Hockey, there was a girls division, basically every division in that age group. “Over the years as hockey became more popular and more centres popped up and more tournaments became available, there wasn't really the need to have as many categories. So it remained a solely peewee tournament for quite some time and the only time it's been on hiatus was during the COVID years.” said Corriveau, adding “It was almost to the point of extinction because there just wasn't the demand for a sole peewee tournament. The Lions Club and Goderich Minor Hockey got together to determine how they could best bring the tournament back to a full week long event because Goderich, as a community, really looked forward to it. They determined they could make it a full week tournament if they offered it for three divisions. So currently it is U13, U15 and U18.” Now, each age group has their own three-day mini-tournament within the scope of Young Canada Week that runs for nine days.
The opening ceremonies are at seven o'clock Friday night at the Maitland Recreation Centre. The Lions Club has several activities planned throughout the week. Sports memorabilia company CW Sports will be there. Former NHLers Gilbert Dionne and Brandon Prust will be signing autographs and the games run all day, every day starting on Friday. All together 44 teams will play a total of 90 games.
More information can be found on the Goderich Minor Hockey website.
