March break tourney big hit with kids, parents

Both the Centennial and Meridian Credit Union arenas were buzzing with activity this past weekend as 42 minor hockey teams descended upon the town for the annual Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves March Break Tournament. 

It was a welcome return for what became one of the first casualties of the pandemic two years ago. 

“When COVID hit, at 8 o’clock at night, I was here setting up the posters and the trophies,” tournament organizer Gino Patterson recalls. “The fridge was stocked with supplies. I was here all by myself, and I got a text message from our president Greg Wiens that Ontario was shutting down and the tournament had to be cancelled.”

That was about eight hours prior to the first game of the tournament Friday, March 13, 2020. Patterson had to communicate with the teams who were planning to visit that day. Trophies were held onto for future re-plating, and he rushed to return some of the food for refunds. 

But the club took a big financial hit that year. The March Break tournament is one of their most important fundraisers each season. 

“For NOTL Hockey, we don’t have a lot of sources of revenue,” Patterson explains. “We do some work with development, with David Cullen. He’s been great. But our tournaments are basically our only chance at revenue. Without successful tournaments, we don’t have a successful club.”

The adage “it takes a village” is appropriate when it comes to the success of the four-day event. Volunteers, such as Patterson’s son Jaden, are needed to help run the time clocks during the game. There’s also the barbecue, which was in full operation from Friday to Monday, and the prize table, with items donated by local businesses.

“People like Jo Zambito, the Niagara Falls fire chief, he’s been here on the barbecue Saturday and Sunday, I think he’s worked 15 hours both days,” Patterson marvels. “He doesn’t have to be here. He just comes out and helps the community.”

Many of those volunteers, of course, are parents of children playing in the tournament. Their efforts contribute to a smoothly-run operation that makes the annual NOTL event a popular choice for teams across the province. 

Patterson continues to volunteer as web master and tournament convenor for the club, despite the fact that his own kids no longer play in the organisation. This year he used an online tournament organiser that allowed volunteers to sign up for the over 300 time slots over the 4 days. 

“It’s lots of work,” Patterson admits. “We’ve built such a strong organisation and we’re doing well financially because of the tournaments. I do it strictly for the kids and the organisation. I have a lot of fun doing it and it’s important to give back to the community.”

He was rewarded this weekend with the feedback he received from happy parents and children. 

“Everyone’s just happy to be playing hockey and feeling normal again,” he laughs. “I’ve had a few people come up and say ‘my gosh, I’m at a hockey tournament and I’m getting a hamburger at a barbecue.’ It’s just the little things that we take for granted. People are so excited to just be playing sports together.” 

Indeed, both arenas were chock full of family members cheering on their kids and trying hard to wrangle them all together between games. 

During a U15 game between a Wolves team and Listowel on Sunday (NOTL won the game  5-1), Marjorie, a Listowel parent, raved about the chance to visit for the weekend. The team stayed at the Ramada Inn in Niagara Falls.

“Just to have kids be kids again,” she told The Local, “that’s what the tournament is all about, team building. We went bowling as a team, hung out in the hotel as a team. These kids couldn’t even see each other for the last two years. It’s just so great to just be able to be here as a team.”

Patterson also organized the November Harvest Classic Tournament for rep teams. That one was scheduled early enough to miss the December shut-down of all non-elite sports in the province. The March Break Tournament is strictly for local league and house league teams. For some kids it is the only tournament they get to play in all year.

“For our U9 teams, they actually didn’t have full games until February,” says Patterson. “For almost all of the U9 teams here this is their first tournament. We had 16 U9 teams in the tournament and I turned away another 15. It’s great to get the young kids in, though, because it builds a really strong tournament for years to come.”

Unlike the other age groups, where all the teams were either house league or local league participants, the U9 was split into three divisions, one each for house league, rep, and rep division 1, to ensure fair competition. 

In the end, only one of the eight NOTL teams made it into the final for their divisions. Thorold beat the Wolves 9-2 Monday to take the U15 tournament crown. Other divisions were won by teams from Hespeler, Caledonia, Port Stanley, Tilsonburg and Sudbury. 

But it clearly wasn’t about winning. As Jordan, a parent of a child on the Hespeler Shamrocks team that won the U13 Division, told The Local, “it’s an excellent bonding experience for the kids. We’ll definitely be back here for this tournament next year.”