There is strength in numbers, as well as a reminder.
With the Burnaby Wildcats Remembrance Day Hockey Tournament reaching a new high in teams involved, the prognosis for the girls’ tourney is very bright.
For a second straight year, the tourney has grown in numbers, with 46 teams signing up over five divisions.
Echo Lee, Burnaby Minor Hockey Association’s female hockey coordinator, said it’s all about word of mouth.
“I think our tournament is fairly well known by now, so teams have learned to set the time aside and to book early,” said Lee. “We no longer have to call up other teams about if they want to come.”
And it means there’s going to be a lot of great action on the ice, with all the games taking place at Burnaby 8-Rinks from Saturday to Monday.
Teams are coming from a variety of locales, including Washington State, Kelowna and 100 Mile House, seeking fun and good competition.
Lee said the focus is providing a ton of both.
“I think that’s a big reason our tournament has grown; there are a lot of teams, so they know they’ll play different teams and get to see what the competition is like from a lot of different associations.”
As part of the long weekend, the tourney will feature numerous fun off-ice activities for players and their siblings, including a photo booth, yoga sessions, face painting and more.
On the hockey side, Fortius Sport and Health Centre will present a proper hockey warm-up sessio, while Watson Brain Health will have a presentation on concussion awareness.
Last year, the tournament drew 39 teams in the novice, atom, peewee, bantam and midget C divisions.
Girls hockey has become more established around the province. Burnaby’s Wildcat teams remain stable at six, which is mostly dictated by ice availability.
Lee hopes with the city investing in two more sheets of ice in south Burnaby, there will be more opportunities to grow girls hockey in the future.
“We’ve been pretty steady at six teams for a few years now,” she said, noting Burnaby is among the smaller girls hockey divisions in the Lower Mainland. “We haven’t done any recruiting or advertising because we don’t have the ice to add more teams.”
