CORNER BROOK — The Corner Brook Royals hope to capture gold this week at the first annual Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador Peewee Mega Tournament.
The host Royals from the Corner Brook Minor Hockey Association will put out the welcome mat for 15 other teams from across Newfoundland and Labrador in conjunction with the annual Steele Hotels provincial peewee and midget tournaments that get underway today and clew up Wednesday with champions being declared in all divisions.
The provincial atom and bantam championship tournaments will be staged at various arenas across the province April 12-14.
Historically, all the provincial tournaments held during Easter would have a maximum of six teams playing a single round robin, however, the Mega concept features 16 teams in Corner Brook and a total of 20 teams for the first annual HNL Atom Mega Tournament being held April 12-14 and hosted by the St. John’s Minor Hockey Association.
Mega tournaments are structured in a way that teams will play other teams of similar calibre after the first day of preliminary action and HNL minor chair Arnold Kelly is excited about the new format.
“We believe that all players deserve a high quality and competitive Easter tournament experience regardless of their skill level,” Kelly said in a press release promoting the Easter tourneys. “Treat them special and they’ll respond with lots of thrilling plays.”
The Stephenville Jets, Straits Rifters, Labrador West Lakers, Torngat Mountain Innu Hawks and Churchill Falls Thunderbirds are among the teams vying for gold. The remaining teams in the hunt for the four Mega peeewee crowns up for grabs include the Botwood Blades, Exploits Valley Cataracts, Harbour Breton Hurricanes, Northeast Eagles, Conception Bay North CeeBees, Gander Flyers, Bay D’Espoir Blizzards, Goulds Pacers, Trinity Placentia Tee Pees and St. John’s Caps.
The host Royals open the tournament today at noon against the Gander Flyers in the Kinsmen Arena II before taking to the spotlight against the St. John’s Caps at 7:30 p.m. at the Pepsi Centre immediately following the opening ceremony, which is slated to start 6:30 p.m. sharp at the Pepsi Centre.
Meanwhile, the Stephenville Minor Hockey Association will be hosting the provincial Midget D hockey championship over the next three days at the Stephenville Dome.
The host Stephenville Jets will match wits with the top Midget D players from Bishop’s Falls, Lake Melville, Green Bay South and Baie Verte.
The opening game of the Midget D tourney, slated for today at 1 p.m. at the Stephenville Dome, will see Bishop’s Falls tangle with Lake Melville. The hometown Jets will open the tournament today with a showdown against Green Bay South 3 p.m. at the Stephenville Dome.
In Deer Lake, the provincial peewee C hockey tournament gets underway today with the Deer Lake Minor Hockey Association representatives battling Bay Arena 2, CB Regional, Clarenville, Labrador West and Placentia Intertown.
The host Deer Lake squad will get its first taste of action today at 1 p.m. when they clash with Labrador West and they will also tangle with Clarenville tonight at 7:15 at the Hodder.
