The second annual Stormfest has been deemed a success by organizers.
“The smiles, the sheer enjoyment of the players on every team no matter what the score was,” says Chad Braithwaite, the creator of the tournament and coach. “Opposing teams cheering for each other was another pride moment, and of course, seeing firsthand our two local teams win medals.”
Stormfest, an all-girls tournament, was started last year after Braithwaite discovered the girl’s program hadn’t had any tournaments in eight years when he joined the Campbell River Minor Hockey Association. In its inaugural year, the tournament only had six teams, with three teams per division decided by age (U11 and U15).
This year, the tournament had 12 teams coming from North Shore, Sooke, Comox, Oceanside, Tri-Cities (three in U11), Victoria (two teams in U13) and Nanaimo. The two divisions were U11 and U13, with eight teams in the former and four in the latter. The Campbell River Hurricanes had a team in each division.
The Hurricanes won the U13 division, followed by Victoria Reign 2 and the Nanaimo Devils. The U11 also did well, coming in third place behind the Tri-City Predators and winners Comox Lightning.
“The feedback I received from the 10 out-of-town teams was nothing but positive. They were totally blown away by our prize packages at the raffle table, our coach/manager player draws, the players’ bags that went to each player were huge and full of amazing items that were for only girls,” Braithwaite says. “It was said that no tournament in B.C. gives out player bags like we did.”
Braithwaite designed the medals and had them shaped into the tournament’s logo. Every player was also given a heart-shaped cookie with their jersey number on it.
Braithwaite is already planning next year’s tournament and is hoping to include a division for every age-grade team in the program (U7 to U18).