This upcoming weekend and the first half of next week will see Kitimat act as host to the Under 13 tier 4 Hockey provincials tournament.
The Co-Chair of the Host Committee for the tournament, Nikki Cameron, went onto give some details about how many teams were getting to participate in the tournament as well as revealing a special treat the players would be getting prior to the games;
“We have six teams competing, five coming into town, from across the Province through different zones. On Saturday, we kick everything off with a banquet for the teams. We have Theo Fleury coming to do some guest speaking so it’s a really exciting opportunity for the kids to hear from somebody who has a vast amount of experience in the NHL.”
Play is officially set to begin on Sunday as Kitimat’s representative at the tournament, the Winterhawks, will play the Kamloops Jr. Blazers at 10:30 AM that day, then the Dawson Creek Canucks at 7:45 PM on Monday, the Vanderhoof Bears at 7:30 PM on Tuesday and the Aldergrove Bruins at 1:30 PM on Wednesday while the Gold Medal Game takes place at 7:30 PM that same night.
But for those concerned about how much attending the tourney could cost don’t need to worry at all, as Cameron mentioned that they could actually end up leaving with more stuff than they came with;
“Everything at the arena is free entry so people can come on down, enjoy the games. I think the RCMP are helping out with the fastest shot, so bring your hockey stick, there’s some prizes for that. So if anybody wants to watch some really great youth hockey, then they can come and enjoy those games.”
Kitimat will have home field advantage in the tourney but ultimately, time will tell if the host team or one of Vanderhoof, Golden, Aldergrove, Dawson Creek or Kamloops will take home the gold.