LAC LA BICHE - It takes a community to raise a child — and a similar amount of support to help them enjoy a hockey tournament.
Organizers of the recent Lac La Biche Clippers U11 invitation Clippers Cup tourney say that without the help and support of the community, their event wouldn't have been possible.
"We couldn't have pulled off such a successful tournament without our generous sponsors and our fantastic group of parents that helped to prepare leading up to the weekend and then volunteered all weekend long," said U-11-1 team manager Ashley Byers.
The eight-team tournament drew U11 teams from across northern Alberta for three days of minor hockey action filling the Bold Center rinks over the November 25 weekend.
The Lac La Biche host team, one of two Clippers U-11 teams in the community, only play one of the invited teams in league play. It was nice for all the teams to see some new faces, said Byers.
"We only play one of the seven teams in our league. We managed to bring in teams that were all quite competitive with each other and had some very close games! Teams were from Peace River, Slave Lake, Wainwright, and the Edmonton region," she said.
Feedback from the tournament — which took place during the busy Lac La Biche Festival of Trees at the Bold Center — has been great, say organizers.
"We received so much positive feedback from visiting coaches, managers and parents about our facilities and the on-site events occurring throughout the weekend. They were surprised that Lac La Biche had so much to offer. We were proud to showcase our community, amazing facility, and the weekend’s events," said Byers.
The tree festival and all of the community events weren't the only nice distractions for off-ice activities. The Clippers team also created a few events of their own that had some decorative aspects. One of the more popular was a "best-dressed team" contest.
"It was so much fun to see their creativity. Santa and his elves came down from the North Pole to coach Peace River, and their players hit the ice for warm up with reindeer antlers and flashing red noses. We also had ugly Christmas sweaters, ugly Christmas suits, moustaches, and beach bums show up," said Byers.
Santa and his Elves from Peace River won for the best-dressed coach, and St. Albert's team with their ugly Christmas sweaters won best-dressed team and took home the Candy Cup Trophy.
The big trophy of the weekend, the Clippers Cup was up for grabs in the last game of the weekend that saw the host team Clippers facing-off against the Slave Lake Thunder. The Thunder rolled to an 8-5 victory to take the title.
Byers says the weekend was truly a team effort, crediting a small but fierce "army" of team volunteers who did everything from scheduling ice times to working the penalty box, to selling raffle tickets to making sure there were baskets of goodies inside locker rooms and referee changing rooms before each game.
"It was a fantastic weekend with a lot of hockey and Christmas cheer sprinkled in wherever you went," she said, "Tournament events were well executed thanks to our amazing parent volunteers. Teams are excited to be invited back next year."
Before that, the Clippers still have their regular season to play — and at least one more weekend tournament to take in; they have already been invited by one of the visiting teams to play in a weekend event later this month.
League play
With the tournament behind them, the Clippers are now focused on league play. The Lac La Biche squad is currently in second-last place of the closely matched, eight-team, Tier-2 U-11 Northeastern Alberta Hockey League, just eight points from the first-place Cold Lake Ice. In a league game at the Bold Center this past Saturday night the Clippers hosted the Ice, losing 5-1. The Clippers currently have a record of 3-7-3 in their first 13 games of the season.
"What's next? Hockey, hockey and more hockey. We will face off with Wainwright again Dec 9-11 weekend at their tournament and continue with league play until the beginning of March," Byers said.
