Team captain of the Douro Dukes, Simon Beecroft, has been playing hockey for about five years but the Liftlock Atom Tournament is his first hockey tournament in Peterborough.
“I feel pretty good. We get to play against a team from Ottawa tomorrow so that’s going to be exciting,” said Beecroft.
The tournament kicked off at the Evinrude Centre on Thursday evening. Tournament vice-chairman of the tournament, Wally Moore, said this one is among the largest yet.
“126 teams and they go from all the way from double E, all the way to B divisions,” said Moore.
More than 2,000 players in 11 different atom divisions will be playing 243 games in 10 different arenas from Thursday to Sunday.
Organizers say it’s more than just a hockey tournament. It’s a real community event. A skills competition was held on Wednesday.
“We have over 200 volunteers. Without the volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to have a tournament especially when you get it this big,” said Moore.
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Atomic Titans head coach Jason Hopkins says he couldn’t miss out on another year of participating in an iconic tournament.
“I used to be a part of a team 35 years ago that participated in the same tournament and it’s nice to give back to the kids today knowing that I’m a head coach instead of a player,” said Hopkins.
The championship games will be on Sunday at the Memorial Centre at 7 a.m., and the constellation championship games will also be on Sunday at 11 a.m.
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