Niagara North tournament set for this weekend
The Niagara North Front Row Sports Classic is a labour of love for Kathy Ditto.
The tournament, which begins Friday at variety of local arenas, is in its seventh season and Ditto, the Niagara North Stars tournament director, has been on board since Day 1.
The AAA tournament runs four divisions — U10 to U13— featuring 54 teams from Canada and the United States.
“This year is our biggest yet,” Ditto said. “It’s really big. We’ve grown and that’s one of the things we’re most proud of. It started as a little idea, but it’s grown pretty big.”
The tournament kicks off Friday at 8 a.m. and concludes Sunday at 4 p.m.
“We’ve had to sort of beg, borrow, and steal ice time wherever we can find it this year,” Ditto said. “There’s teams that are flying in from Newfoundland and Labrador and New York City. We’re really excited to have 54 teams so we’re using pretty much all the ice in the area and all the four-pad (Seymour Hannah).”
Games will also be played at Canada Games Park, Bill Burgoyne Arena, Thorold Arena and the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls.
The tournament is the brainchild of Ditto, Niagara North vice-president Jim Craig and former president Paul Allen.
“Three of us were sitting talking about it. We’re pretty proud of the great things that happened at Niagara North, so we thought this was something that would be great for our organization,” Ditto said. “It is a great source of funds for keeping the cost of hockey low but also to showcase what hockey is all about for us.”
Ditto believes teams keep coming back because of the structure of the tournament.
“There’s, for sure, tournaments out there that have more bells and whistles, the swag bags and all that other stuff, but we like to pride ourselves on good hockey,” she said. “We like to spend a lot of time building a schedule with balanced divisions so they’ve got nice, tight hockey games.
“For us, it’s about the hockey and it’s about the people and the community. So I think that’s the big difference, because I think you can see through some of that other stuff and when it comes down to it, it’s the good hockey that’s gonna bring people back.”
Ditto loves meeting the people on the other end of the e-mail she corresponds with for the tournament.
“We’ve had teams that have come back. In the U13 division, we have a team that’s been here every year since we started from Rochester. We know the people and I think our people is part of what brings people back here.”
Ditto, who admitted the job can a lot of work but worth it, said the tournament would not be possible without the help of other volunteers.
“We’ve got kind of a small but mighty group of volunteers that help man the sites. One of the things we love to do is we have our older kids get involved, our U18, U16 teams,” she said. “So they act as player ambassadors or tournament ambassadors. They’re like the conveners at some of the sites because there’s not enough of us to go around. So that’s a great way for them to kind of give back to Niagara North and get involved.”
Ditto praised other hockey organizations in St. Catharines who gave up their ice time to accommodate the tournament.
“Everybody gives up so that this can be a success and the city has always really flexible with us.”
For a complete schedule see: https://niagaranorthstars.ca/Articles/4290/Tournament_Schedule_now_LIVE_/
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