Inaugural Okanagan Spring Cup a Success

April 14, 2010

When local hockey dad Mike Rout discovered that minor hockey players were missing out on the opportunity to play springtime hockey, he decided to start a tournament himself.
 
“I saw that pee wee hockey was lacking a tournament in the spring,” said Rout, “so I decided to organize one myself. “
 
Rout, who currently has a son in the Okanagan Hockey Academy, contacted the staff to see if they’d be willing to help him out. Kevin Goodwin, Operations Manager for Okanagan Hockey Academy saw the benefit of the tournament and a partnership was formed.
 
“It was five-team tournament with teams from Kelowna, Vernon, Vancouver, Fort St. John and a fifth team called the BC Interior Selects with players from all over the province,” said Goodwin. “It was a great opportunity for us to support minor hockey and host families in Penticton.”
 
For Rout, Penticton was the natural place to hold the tournament.
 
“So many players and their families spend a portion of their summers doing IDT (International Development Tournament) or the Okanagan Hockey School in Penticton and have such a great time that it’s easy to bring people back. One of the luxuries of Penticton is you can walk from your hotel to the rink, whereas when you go to the big cities you might be an hour drive away.  In addition, the new state of the art facility (South Okanagan Events Centre) was just a beautiful place to host it.”
 
Rout said most of the parents came with their children for a springtime holiday. “The families from Fort St John actually came out on Wednesday and made a long weekend out of it.”
 
Both Rout and Goodwin hope the success of the tournament will help it grow in future years
 
“We had five teams participate this year and all five teams will be returning next year,” stated Rout.
 
“Moving forward, we’d like to build the tournament to 24 teams, eight in three separate age group,” Goodwin said.

Interested players and their families are encouraged to contact Rout to register via email at mrout@shaw.ca.