(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Annual Tradition

20th annual tournament taking part around the city

Jan 4, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The 20^th Annual Prince Albert Female Hockey Tournament is underway.

The event will run from Friday to Sunday and take place in numerous locations including Kinsmen Arena, Buckland, East Hill, East End, West Hill and Crescent Heights.

Chairman of the tournament Jim Flynn told paNOW 41 teams will be competing starting from novice to midget AA divisions. Teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will make the trip to Prince Albert.

“It’s one of the bigger tournaments in Saskatchewan,” Flynn said. “It’s starting up for female hockey way back and it’s been growing ever since, and it’s been growing every year.”

He added with teams coming from out of the province, it’s not only good for hockey, but also for the economy of Prince Albert. Restaurants, hotels and other businesses will benefit.

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The tournament will proceed on Saturday at 8 a.m. and will go into the evening. On Sunday, games will begin at 8 a.m. starting with round robin play before playoffs begin depending on what division the team is in. Championship games will follow that.

Founder of the tournament, Luc Robin said 20 years ago the tournament began after finding out the first weekend of January was available because nobody wanted to host that weekend.

“Well I said the girls will take it and it’s kind of [grown] from there,” Robin said.

He said his daughter continued to play hockey and it was important to continue the tournament.

“Something that’s good for the community and good for female hockey to have a tournament to go to because there wasn’t too many tournaments available at that time,” Robin said.

He added it is good experience for the players because they get to play teams they don’t normally ever get to see. It’s becoming a date a lot of teams have marked down on their calendar every year to attend.

He said the tournament takes many volunteers and parents helping throughout the weekend for each day to run smoothly.

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12