Some of the best minor hockey players in the province are in Barrie to compete in Ontario Minor Hockey Association’s (OMHA) championship tournament in the hopes of snagging the coveted “Red Hat.”
More than 100 teams are expected to participate over the course of the tournament — some travelling more than 400 kilometres, according to Barrie’s sport tourism development officer, Steve Bowie.
“Some of them are travelling quite a distance to be here … and that is super exciting. It brings our name around the province a little bit more and means more people getting to see our beautiful city,” he said, adding he anticipates the tournament to result in significant revenue over the course of the six days.
“In total, I think we are looking at about $1.4 million worth of economic impact in the city over this event, which, when you consider this event runs from Friday to Sunday two weekends in a row … that’s fantastic.”
Bowie said the city is planning on hosting a variety of sporting events each weekend, beginning in June.
“Hopefully, we can stay open as we are now and we can host all these events throughout the summer and see similar numbers and get back on track,” he said.
Barrie was selected as one of five Ontario municipalities to host the championship weekends, and with 56 teams hitting rinks in Barrie and Innisfil last weekend — and 44 teams expected this weekend — Bowie is “very excited” to see the situation slowly getting back to normal and is hopeful that trend will continue.
“This is something a lot of younger kids work for and is the culmination of a year of hard work, so we are always happy to see the biggest event in Ontario minor hockey come to our city,” he said. “It’s something the participants can be really proud of and it’s something we can be really proud to host and get to welcome all these people in.”
Mike Hickey travelled more than two hours from Douro, east of Peterborough, with his son, Jack, who was competing with the U15 Douro Dukes Saturday afternoon at the East Bayfield Community Centre.
“The kids are really excited. This is a great weekend. I think it’s worked out really well,” he said. “It’s been a good weekend.”
Joanna Ingram’s son, Wes, is the goalie for the Mariposa U15 team, which travelled to Barrie from Little Britain to compete in the tournament.
“It’s super exciting. I really like the way the OMHA has done it this year. It used to be a long process … so this is a really exciting opportunity for us to play some centres across Ontario that we might not ordinarily play,” she said, adding she’s impressed with how accessible everything has been so far.
“There’s been lots of parking, lots of hotels, lots of food places … Everybody seems like they’re having a really good time.”
While she acknowledged the time and financial commitment hockey requires of families, Ingram was relieved that young hockey players were finally able to get to doing what they love.
“Competitive-wise, it’s been really exciting for all the boys,” she said. “For mental health and development, it’s super important for leadership qualities, and the physical (benefits).”
Members of the U15 Ennismore Eagles were keeping a keen eye on the competition Saturday afternoon as they awaited their turn to hit the ice against the South Huron Sabres in the quarter-finals later in the day.
“We are going to win,” said Linden Joore as his teammates nodded in agreement.
Although the Barrie Minor Hockey Association was not involved in the planning of the tournament, general Manager Steve Fontaine told BarrieToday he was thrilled to see his city have the opportunity to host such a large and important event in minor hockey.
“It’s very prestigious in the sense that every minor hockey player that plays in a representative program seeks this Red Hat. That’s what all players get if they win the championship,” he said, adding it will also help bring business back to Barrie. “Our hotels are full, our restaurants are probably full, so it’s been very good in that sense. It’s just nice that people are able to get out and there’s some form of normalcy that we are returning to.”
