This ice hockey tournament is local and typically attracts teams from all over the country. The teams that register are required to register for the level that their team plays in their league. For example - Our team for this tournament was considered Bantam "B" so we entered the Bantam "B" level.

Not all teams were as honest as we saw our first year in travel hockey attending our first tournament. Our team faced one Bantam "B" team and two Bantam "AA" team - W-0, L-3

This was one of the most exciting tournaments we entered because we knew we were going to play at least one Canadian team. You have not challenged your team until you have played a Canadian ice hockey team. We entered the tournament as a Midget Minor "A" team and played other Midget "A" teams.

As we drove to Rochester, NY during Thanksgiving break (we ate first) it snowed on the way to upstate NY - It was very exciting! Hockey and snow? Could there be a better combination?

Our first game during this tournament was against a Canadian team which we tied. We were off to a great start and my son had a goal in this game. Our next two games we lost (one with seconds left in the game) but we did not mind as this was the first real traveling we did for travel hockey. A bunch of us even went to Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester for dinner and had a fantastic time. W-0, L-2, T-1

Being a Midget Minor "A" team we knew that we were a middle of the pack team and never had high expectations of the team. All the parents got along well as did the kids playing together so there was never an issue of going to a tournament.

Anyway, we drove down to Maryland during the MLK holiday and began play in the tournament. We played our first game against a much bigger Midget "A" team and we thought we were going to get crushed. To our surprise we won the game and my son had two goals. We won our next game and found ourselves with two wins. Our third game was unbelievable as we had the opportunity to play in an outdoor rink. Wow was it cold. We wound up winning that outdoor game and had one game to play - the Championship game. It was the Old York Raiders vs. Raleigh Storm. It was not an easy game but we won - Champions of our first travel tournament and we were so proud of the boys. W-4, L-0, T-0

Although we found ourselves playing with a different travel hockey team, we were now playing on a Midget Major "A" team and had two tournaments already with this team. As we did not win any games in either of the first two tournaments, we began to see this team building character and really playing team hockey.

So with a Turkey leg in hand, we began another Thanksgiving holiday break traveling for ice hockey and drove about one hour west to plays other Midget "A" teams. This tournament we had the distinct pleasure of bringing our godson with us to watch his cousin play ice hockey and score a goal. We did manage to get away with a win, in this tournament, but enjoyed the company of family. W-1, L-3, T-0

I can tell you now that driving down to West Virginia was difficult at best. We got caught on Route 13 in Delaware and screamed the entire length of this slow, one lane road that seemed to be 1000 miles long.

Eventually, we made it to West Virgina as we drove over a 20 mile bridge. It was an amazing drive over the water and we highly recommend that you take this trip at least once.

While our Midget "A" team played some fantastic hockey they fell short in the championship game because they had given everything they had in the semi-final game just hours before.

Recapping the tournament...

The tournament appeared to be normal Midget hockey and we wound up splitting the first two games. It was game two where we really began to see what our son was made of. During game two while he played wing, he was on several odd man rushes heading towards the goal with the center. Each time he and his teammate had a 2 on 1 opportunity vs. the goalie it resulted in missed shots (all taken from the center without a single pass to his wing man). Following that game I had never seen my son so angry at the game and lack of team play. When it came time to play the semi-final game my son had elevated his game, scored two goals and put his team into the championship game. That game was our championship game as the team played like we never had seen. Unfortunately, the team used all their energy and fell short in the championship game played only two hours after the semi-final game. W-2, L-2, T-1