THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Elks will play host to next year’s AA Tournament of Champions.
The event will feature AA teams from within Hockey Northwestern Ontario at the atom, peewee, bantam and midget levels.
Branch champions will be crowned in each category at the event, scheduled for March 3 to 5, 2017.
“The Thunder Bay Elks are privileged to have been awarded the opportunity to host the Tournament of Champions for a third year in a row, we plan to continue to build this event similar to the tradition of the Tom Thumb and Central Canada tournaments we host annually,” said Thunder Bay Elks President, Paul Tocheri in a release issued on Monday.
The format was first introduced in 2013 as a way to recognize branch champions in three age groups, with the atom AA division coming on board this year.
“We are pleased to have the Thunder Bay Elks Minor Hockey Association step up to host this event for a third straight year; it has been a great weekend of hockey the last two years and we expect that to continue in 2017” said HNO President Glenn Timko.
Meanwhile the Midget AAA championship will take place in Kenora from March 10 to 12, the Kenora Thistles hosting the Thunder Bay Kings Major Midget AAA squad in a best-of-three series.
The pee wee and bantam AAA championships will be held the same weekend in Thunder Bay, while the All-Ontario bantam AAA championship is scheduled for Thunder Bay starting on March 27, 2017.
