Opening Ceremonies, News, Newmarket Finals, 2019-2020, Final (International Silver Stick)

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Jan 04, 2020 | Chris Neale | 1342 views
Opening Ceremonies
On behalf of our Tournament Committee, Congratulations on qualifying and WELCOME to the 34th edition of the International Silver Stick – Newmarket Finals.

This year we welcome 64 teams to Newmarket. 17 are joining us from the US, with the remainder coming in from all over Ontario. Combined with the 7 Host teams, that means 71 teams are competing for 8 different Championships. 

Our tournament begins with our first game at Magna, Thursday, January 9th @ 1:45pm between Minor Atom A Midland Northstars, MI and the Barrie Colts. Our final game is at Ray Twinney, Sunday, January 12th @ 6:50pm where our Minor Midget AA Championship will be decided. In between there is sure to be some great hockey to watch! 




Opening Ceremonies This year the Opening Ceremonies will be taking place on Friday January 10, 2020 at 7:00PM at the Ray Twinney Complex – Rink #1. The feature game after the ceremonies at 7:30PM, will be a Minor Midget AA game between the host Newmarket Redmen and from Colorado, the Hyland Hills Jaguars. We will ask that one player from each team wearing your team’s jersey take part in the ceremony. It will be logistically impossible for absolutely all the teams to be represented as a few game times will make that unavoidable, but the greater the representation the better. There will be a form within your tournament package with further details about this.

Skills Competition
– Last year we ran our first skills competition for each age group (both A&AA participate together), that proved to be very popular so we will be doing it again. Each team will be asked to provide the names of 2 players and 1 player+1 goalie (there will be a random draw to decide whether the goalie or player will take part) to participate. Again, further details will be provided in your Tournament package. The times for the events are:                            

Friday January 10, 2020                6:00PM               Minor Midget                   Ray Twinney – Rink #1

Saturday January 11, 2020           1:00PM                Minor Atom                     Ray Twinney – Rink #1

Saturday January 11, 2020           2:15PM                Minor Peewee                  Ray Twinney – Rink #1

Saturday January 11, 2020           3:30PM                Minor Bantam                  Ray Twinney – Rink #1

This was a fun event last year, not only for the players chosen to participate, but for their teammates to come out and cheer on.


Onsite Vendors & Sponsors – as with most tournaments there are a number of onsite vendors. One that is somewhat ‘out-of-the-way’, will be located at the Ray Twinney Complex – Lounge 1. Lounge 1 is being run by a local restaurant throughout the duration of the Tournament. They won’t be serving the same variety of food they have available at their regular establishment, but it is a place where you can enjoy a beverage (both family friendly and adult beverages will be available) while you’re waiting for your child’s game to begin and I would encourage all participants to tryout a couple of our sponsors establishments. Our list of restaurants are not all your standard franchise environments and years past, we have seen teams tend to frequent a couple of them more than once during the weekend because they enjoyed the experience so much.

FAQ’s

Pin Exchange

There is no formal area set aside for PIN exchange and while it is not a requirement to exchange pins between teams, if your team felt it was something you wanted to do then you are more than welcome to do so, although you would also need to be aware that the opposing team may not come the rink prepared with pins to give you in return. One of the guiding principles of the Silver Stick is to promote ‘Citizenship and International Goodwill through hockey’. With that in mind, exchanging and/or trading pins is a way of people from different areas/regions connecting. Over the years, it has been a common sight watching players trading pins in the hallways of the rinks and we absolutely encourage it, if that is an activity you want to do.

Are there places to play hockey or skate outdoors?

There are several community managed outdoor rinks around town but of late, the weather hasn’t been too conducive to these rinks being in any real usable condition, although you never know, over the next several days the weather may change and become more favorable. That said, there is one outdoor rink that is maintained by the Town of Newmarket and even with suspect weather should be available. It is located in Newmarket Riverwalk Commons (200 Doug Duncan Drive). It is open from 9:00am to 10:00pm for skating and they allow pick-up style hockey after 10:00pm.

We are once again very excited to have you join us here in Newmarket and look forward to seeing you all as we start things rolling on January 9.

Safe travels.