A total of six teams took to the ice on March 11 when the IP Kamsack Flyers team hosted their first tournament of the season at the Broda Sportsplex.
Host team Flyers, with coaches Tyler Lorenzo, Lee Symak and Jared Ruf, kicked off the tournament at 9 a.m. in a game against the Norquay Northstars, with coaches Nicole Korpusik, Bowdrie Northrop, Chelsie Will, Randi Foster, and Sara Auchstaetter.
Other competing IP teams included: the Roblin Stars, with coaches Brent Lemieux, Cam Rands and Dale Rands; Swan River Orange, with coaches Dallas Anderson and Trevor Warburton; Swan River Green, with coach Pat Harness, and the Preeceville Pats, with coaches Dean Serdachny and Nathan Maier.
The ice surface was divided in half for the IP teams’ games to accommodate the players’ stature. Therefore, two games ran concurrently at 10:30 a.m. and saw Roblin face off against Swan River Orange, and the Swan River Green play Preeceville.
At 12:30 p.m., Kamsack versus Swan River Orange and Norquay versus Swan River Green ran concurrently.
A fourth round match up at 2 p.m. saw Kamsack take on Preeceville and Norquay against Roblin.
The final games of the tournament, played at 4 p.m., saw Preeceville face off against Swan River Orange and Swan River Green go head-to-head with Roblin.
In the IP league match-ups, game scores are not kept and the players are out there to have fun and learn the sport, according to Nikki Ruf, Kamsack team manager.
“At the end of each game, one player from each team who had given the best effort is presented with the digger award,” Ruf said.
“At the end of the tournament, each of the 80 players was awarded a medal.
“This was the last IP tournament of the season. After this we will have one more regular practice at our regular time on Tuesday, and have a fun windup on March 16.
“The kids all had fun and seemed to have enjoyed their day,” said Ruf, calling the tournament a great success.
“It was great to have so many fans in the stands who all really seemed to enjoy watching our young players,” she said.
Sponsors for the event included Sas-Kam, who donated the two hockey sticks for the loonie stick raffle; Yorkton Co-op Foods for donating the buns and hotdogs, and the Kamsack IP Flyers’ families who all donated prizes for the raffle table.
