By Sam Laskaris /
Thanks to a solid reputation, the Shanahan International AAA Ice Hockey Tournament continues to grow.
This year’s event, scheduled for Nov. 13 to 15, will feature 108 squads. That’s a dramatic increase from eight years ago when the tournament had about 30 teams.
Tournament chairperson Brian Ash believes there’s a rather simple reason for its success and growth.
“I’d like to think it’s run well,” he said. “In the big part, we do work very hard at it. We work on it year-round.”
Ash, who is also the general manager of the tournament host Mississauga Reps, said there’s a very good reason for wanting to put on a quality event.
“It’s the main fundraiser for our hockey club,” Ash said, adding the Reps also annually stage a spring tournament
Promoting the Shanahan event south of the border has also proven rather beneficial.
As in previous years, there will be plenty of American representation at the 2009 tournament.
Almost one-fifth of the participating clubs will be from the United States. A total of 21 U.S.
teams – representing the states of Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Ohio – will take part.
The tournament will include a whopping 40 clubs, separated into 10 groups for round-robin action, in the Atom division alone. There will also be minor atom, minor peewee and peewee divisions.
All matches will be held at a pair of Toronto facilities – Westwood Arenas and Chesswood Arenas. A total of nine ice surfaces will be utilized at these two rinks. |