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SUMMERSIDE TO SHARE WORLD JUNIOR A WITH PROVINCE

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

SUMMERSIDE TO SHARE WORLD JUNIOR A WITH PROVINCE

The 2009 World Junior A Hockey Challenge may be played in Summerside, but five other Maritime communities will get a preview of the calibre of play that will be on display at Credit Union Place from Nov. 1-8.

"What is different than any other event that we've done, or most events, is that we're taking our tournament on the road," said JP Desrosiers, event and program development officer for the City of Summerside. Pre-tournament games will be held in two Nova Scotia towns and three P.E.I. communities -- one in each county. Those games will be held Thursday and Friday.

"We're handling logistics in how we're going to feed them, house them, bus them, run games and try and sell tickets in Montague, Charlottetown, O'Leary, Truro and Amherst," said Desrosiers. "That's almost like running its own tournament before the tournament even starts."

Desrosiers is hoping exposing the talent level in different communities will result in fans from those markets taking in tournament games in Summerside. "We're directly marketing our tournament to people in those areas," said Desrosiers.

"So, if there are people in Amherst that were wavering on coming over, but they see those teams play over there, they may come over and watch."
Amherst and Truro are both home to successful franchises in the Maritime Junior A Hockey League.

This will be the second high-profile junior A event hosted by the City of Summerside in as many years. A successful Canadian Junior A prospects game was staged last December.

"If people recall back to how good the prospects game was, this is a notch above that," said Canadian Junior Hockey League chair Paul Lake.

A well-known tournament alumni is Kyle Turris, who played for Team West and was the most valuable player of the 2006 tournament in Yorkton, Sask. He said fans can expect to see fast-paced hockey.

"It was an awesome experience, I loved every minute of it and it was a great atmosphere," recalled Turris, the third overall selection by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. "All the different teams that came in from different countries and the group of guys that we put together from all over Western Canada made it a great experience, and it's something I won't forget."

Another first-round NHL pick to play in the tournament was Joe Colborne, who was the 18th overall selection of the Boston Bruins in 2008 and played for Canada West in 2007.

"It was probably the biggest honour of my life to finally put on a Team Canada jersey," said Colborne. "Just the feeling you got when you came out and heard the Canadian national anthem. That was probably my favourite part of the whole thing."

JASON SIMMONDS
Transcontinental Media