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Friendship hockey
celebrates 13 years
By
Ross Forman
Outsports.com
TORONTO -- They came here from across Canada, the U.S., and even
as far away as Paris, France to plat some hockey.
The
Hockey Hall of Fame is about a 15-minute drive from the Varsity
Arena here on the campus of the University of Toronto where,
Oct. 6-8, the 13th annual Friendship Tournament was played,
attracting seven teams (two developmental, five recreational
teams).
About 115 participated in the tournament, run by the Toronto Gay
Hockey Association (TGHA), including 45 local skaters.
There were players from Montreal, Ottawa and California,
Illinois, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Vermont.
About 10% of the players were first-timers in the Friendship
Tournament, which is the longest-running gay hockey tournament
in the world.
"It
was unfortunate that we didn't have more teams, but, there's
a lot of competition with all of the other
(hockey) tournaments," said Yannick Lemaire, the TGHA's
Tournament Coordinator. "Still, everyone definitely seemed to
have a lot of fun ... and that's most important."
The
last gay hockey tournament was held Memorial Day weekend in
Denver, the annual Coors Cup.
Toronto Reloaded defeated the Montreal Dragons 3-2 in
sudden-death overtime to capture the championship.
Toronto's Mike Daniels captured MVP honors for Reloaded after
scoring the game-winning goal. Andre Giroux was named the MVP
for Montreal. The Vermont Pioneers won the third-place game,
defeating Team Alibi 3-2.
"The recreation division was much stronger this year than in the
past, but we're going to have to find an equilibrium in the
future," Lemaire said.
In
the past, the Friendship tournament also has featured a
Competitive Division.
Lemaire said the participation drop-off also is partially
attributed to the lack of young players joining the ranks of the
gay hockey scene, which is drastically different from other
sports, such as softball and flag football. And those sports,
ironically, had their biggest tournaments of the year - the gay
Super Bowl in New York City and the gay World Series in Phoenix
- the same weekend as the Friendship Tournament, though Lemaire
doubted either affected participation in the hockey event.
The
Friendship Tournament attracted players ranging in age from 21
to 55.
Lemaire said that, at the 2008 event, organizers "definitely
will be more vigilant to make sure there isn't such a disparity"
among team's skill level. The 14th annual tournament again will
be held here over Canadian Thanksgiving/Columbus Day weekend in
America. "Our goal for next year's tournament is to
increase awareness and encourage younger members of (the gay
community) to play hockey."
This year's tournament was an all-male event, even though there
is a local lesbian hockey league. "Females don't tend to
play in this tournament, and honestly, I don't know why (not),"
Lemaire said.
The
next major gay hockey tournament will be March 21-24 in
Montreal. For more information on that tournament, email the
Montreal Dragons at:
dragons.montreal@gmail.com.
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