A first for the Lakehead Junior Hockey League (LJHL) in Thunder Bay ahead of the holiday season.
The five LJHL squads will skate alongside an Under-18 ‘AA’ All-Star team from the Thunder Bay Minor Hockey Association (TBMHA) for a Showcase tournament at the Fort William First Nation (FWFN) Arena beginning on Friday, December 15th.
The idea of a Showcase was first considered by League President Josh Gribben previously in the summer of 2021 and while the league has done an All-Star event, Gribben explains how a Showcase event might be different.
“[Fans will] have the [opportunity] to see everybody's full group involved [and] participating rather than just a select few from our league who would get the opportunity to be all stars at the end of the year,” noted Gribben. “Instead of [the] regular 20-minute periods, [each game] will [feature] 15-minute periods, and the overtime will essentially [be a straight shootout].”
Gribben gives full credit to the league’s new Second Vice-President Pat MacDonald for getting this idea off the ground.
“Pat [has] been around the game for a long time,” Gribben stated. “He's an excellent member of the hockey community, and when we had him come on and take the role as the second Vice-President, we had [him] spearhead a few projects, one of which was the Showcase tournament and [the other] being the All-Star Game. [Pat] has been able to recruit a major sponsor for the event. He has been able to get a new trophy for the tournament and he has worked to get the sixth team added to the tournament.”
Gribben mentioned that there were a few bars that had to be jumped over to get the Minor Hockey All-Stars involved in the event.
“Any time [you want to put together a team of registered players], you have to get approval from Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO). We needed to go to Thunder Bay Minor [and] ask if they would be interested in such an event for their [players]. [Once they said yes] they [needed] to approach HNO and ask for [their] permission to put together an All-Star team. That’s what [TBMHA] did and HNO approved [the move] and [we couldn’t be happier to have them involved in the event.”
The six squads will be split into two divisions with each team getting a guaranteed two games. The top two teams from the round robin will skate in the final at Noon on Sunday, December 17th.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 15th
Thunder Bay Bandits vs. Current River Storm 3:00 p.m.
Thunder Bay Northern Hawks vs. Nipigon Elks 5:00 p.m.
TBMHA U18 AA All Stars vs. Schreiber Falcons 7:00 p.m.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 16th
Current River Storm vs. Schreiber Falcons 3:00 p.m.
Nipigon Elks vs. Thunder Bay Bandits 5:00 p.m.
TBMHA U18 AA All Stars vs. Thunder Bay Northern Hawks 7:00 p.m.
