PEI

1,200 young Islanders compete in annual holiday hockey tournament

Young hockey players from across the Island laced up to compete in the province's largest hockey tournament for P.E.I.-only teams.

'Our motto is always put the kids first and we put everything back to the kids as much as we can'

The George Trainor Holiday Classic hockey tournament has been running since 2005. (Brian Higgins/CBC)

Over 1,000 hockey players from across the Island laced up to compete in the province's largest hockey tournament for P.E.I.-only teams.

The annual George Trainor Holiday Classic ran from Wednesday to Friday and featured over 1,200 A-level hockey players competing at rinks all over Charlottetown.

The tournament is named after the former Charlottetown city councillor and has taken place every year between Christmas and New Year's since 2005 — celebrating Trainor's passion and dedication for the sport of hockey.

A-level hockey players from across the province competed in the 3-day tournament at rinks across Charlottetown. (Brian Higgins/CBC)

'We're very happy, very proud'

"We are a growing tournament, fortunately, this is really good. We're very happy, very proud," said Pierre Goyette, tournament chair.

"Our motto is always put the kids first and we put everything back to the kids as much as we can ... because I know there's a lot of people that say triple A or double A is the competitive hockey, but A can be as competitive and fun."

Pierre Goyette, chair of the tournament, says A hockey can be just as competitive and fun as AA and AAA. (Brian Higgins/CBC)

Boys could compete in the novice, atom, peewee, bantam and midget age brackets, and girls could compete in the novice-level age bracket.

142 games were played on six different surfaces across Charlottetown.

With files from Brian Higgins