For the second year in a row, all the focus will be on girls’ hockey at the Rod Brind’Amour Arena in late March.
“They hadn’t had one (tournament) in seven years,” says Chad Braithwaite, the creator of Stormfest, who was told after he joined the Campbell River Minor Hockey Association. “Seeing as girls’ hockey popularity is jumping leaps and bounds every year, I felt it was really important to have a home tournament.”
Braithwaite added that he believes a girls’ home tournament was pushed to the back burner due to the lack of ice.
“For me, I feel it’s really important. My daughter plays as well and I feel it’s important that the girls get a fair shot at everything that is offered to the co-ed or the boys league at the same time, so with that I kind of took it on last minute last year,” he says. “I think anybody who organizes knows it’s a ton of work.”
The tournament, being held from March 22 to 24, is larger than last year’s. In the 2023 tournament, they had six teams in total, split into two divisions for U11s and U15s. This year will see eight teams in two divisions for U11 girls and a four-team division for U13s. A Campbell River team will play in both age categories. North Shore, Sooke, Comox, Oceanside, Tri-Cities (three teams in U11), Victoria (two teams in U13) and Nanaimo will be coming to Campbell River to join the fun on the ice.
Braithwaite said the tournament had not nothing but great feedback, and was supported by the community. The feedback allowed Braithwaite and the CRMHA get this year’s tournament organized a little earlier, including having it listed in July 2023, so other teams could see it before the hockey season began.
“I’m not a cookie-cutter or copy-and-paste kind of guy, so for Stormfest I actually named (it) Stormfest. If you look at any other tournaments in minor hockey there are no names. It just says Youth 13 Christmas Tournament or they are all labelled the same, so I just wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something different because of looking through how girls’ tournaments are played in B.C. and Alberta, Saskatchewan, it seems most of them are named,” says Braithwaite. “This way it gives us an opportunity to hopefully get sponsors and just really push the game for the girls.”
The players will receive a goodie bag only associated with girls’ hockey and not a mixture of stuff. The medals (for gold, silver, and bronze) players receive at the end of the tournament are also customized. Tournament winners will be awarded a trophy, however the trophy will stay in Campbell River. Time has been set aside for the winners to celebrate with the cup and have their photos taken by a professional photographer.
“It’s something different that I’m trying to offer,” Braithwaite says. “I just want to make sure the girls have a great experience moving forward, and it’s not always easy playing with the boys in a dual-roster system.”