THUNDER BAY – Up-and-coming hockey players from Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and across the border were showing off their elite skills during the Thunder Bay’s first hockey showcase.
This weekend, the Thunder Bay Kings hosted the first Annual CCM Showcase, presented by One Hockey. The three-day long tournament was held at the Fort William First Nation Arena and saw 14 AAA teams in action.
The showcase wrapped up on Sunday, and Sebastien Fortier, owner and founder of One Hockey and former Thunder Bay Senator, said despite the late start in planning the city’s first tournament, there were still a lot of high caliber teams out on the ice.
“For the first year it’s a success,” he said. “It’s going to get a lot bigger and a lot better.”
Fortier said that the idea to start a showcase in Thunder Bay largely came from the former equipment manager of the Thunder Bay Senators, Gary Linquist.
As president of Thunder Bay Kings Hockey, Linquist often made the trip with the Kings to Minnesota to participate in showcases.
“We got to reconnect, we had a discussion about why not doing a tournament in Thunder Bay,” Fortier said.
“The showcase is set up for the Kings so some of the teams that play away, probably 95 per cent of the games, they have some home games for their families to watch,” Linquist added.
All four of the Thunder Bay Kinds AAA teams hit home ice on the weekend, facing off against teams from Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Minnesota.
The Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres Prep School under 16 and under 18 travelled from Faribault, Minn. to participate, as well as the Kenora Thistles in the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League.
Fortier said One Hockey and CCM have been putting on tournaments for the last 14 years and has hosted teams from more than 20 countries.
“Of course the teams want to go to a good event and we are known to put on a very well organized tournaments,” Fortier said. “We have a good reputation in the tournament business.”
While fans of the Thunder Bay Kings got a chance to see the teams in action on home ice, there were other people in the stands watching the players putting on a show.
“This weekend, we saw several scouts here,” Fortier said. “We have several junior teams here scouting. The older level kids they want to get exposure and I think this weekend they got that.”
“The Kings are pretty much used to that,” Linquist said of scouts. “Our minor midgets and our major midgets play in the NAPHL, so there are 300 scouts walking around the building the whole weekend watching them. The minor midgets when they play in tournaments in Toronto, that’s what they are going there for, basically to being scouted for the OHL.”
Cody Bruchkowski, right winger with the Thunder Bay Major Midget Kings, said knowing scouts are in the stands does add some pressure, but it’s important to just focus on what is happening out on the ice.
“It’s a little bit added pressure going out there, but once you get out there, you just play your game and do what you do best,” he said.
This is Bruchkowski’s last year with the Thunder Bay Kings and he said being a part of the first showcase in Thunder Bay has been a great experience.
“It’s nice to see that we have a showcase like this in our home rink,” he said. “With all the crowd out it’s been a big weekend for us. It gets the community out to watch the local team and helps us out a bit around the community.”
Both Fortier and Linquist hope to see the annual tournament grow from year to year, perhaps moving it to two weeks, and increasing the number of teams participating.
“We hope we grow from the major midget side,” Linquist said. “We have some interest from three or five outside teams to come next year, so we could see some substantial growth at that level. And we will keep building from there.”
“Hopefully eventually we will bring European teams here and fill up this rink and really make it fun for the locals,” Fortier added. “It’s good hockey.”
