Young Canada Week marks 75th anniversary in Goderich

BY BOB MONTGOMERY

The 75th Goderich Young Canada Week hockey tournament is up and running.

 

Tournament Co-ordinator Tara Corriveau says the tournament started as a one-day tournament in 1950 and, at that time, they had 12 teams. Corriveau says one reason for starting the tournament was that the Memorial Arena had just opened and it was the first artificial ice surface in the area and there was a need in the area for PeeWee-aged tournaments. So, Nick Whestone, who was one of the founding fathers of the tournament, got together with a Lions Club member and the newly-appointed arena manager and that was the beginning of the Young Canada Week Tournament, which included teams from around the area, Lucknow, Ripley, Zurich and Goderich Township.

 

Corriveau said that by the fourth year word had spread so much that the tournament had 47 teams from all over Ontario. She says that the event eventually attracted teams from other provinces and even some from the United States. Corriveau says for Canada’s Centennial Year they actually had 100 teams participate.

 

Corriveau says that, over time, hockey has changed significantly. By 2000, more kids were playing hockey and the demographics had changed and soon they were having a hard time restricting their tournament to PeeWees only. She says there was a time, just before the pandemic, when they weren’t sure they could continue as they had been. And she says, oddly enough, the years off gave them a chance to re-evaluate and make some adjustments so that Young Canada Week could continue. 

 

And that’s when Young Canada Week moved from a PeeWee-only tournament to a tournament with three divisions. It had been a PeeWee-only tournament for 67 years and, in 2019, they added Bantams and then when they came back after the pandemic in 2022 they did two weekends and they decided they wanted to go back to a full week, which is what Young Canada Week was for more than 50 years. And that’s when they added the third division. So, for the last five years, it has been a nine-day tournament in three divisions: U13, U15 and U18.

 

Corriveau says that, for 15 years, they also had a full girls division and that was made possible when the Maitland Recreation Centre opened and they had two ice surfaces available to them. She says the only reason the girls’ division had to be removed was because the Memorial Arena was decommissioned and they were down to one ice surface.

 

This year’s 75th tournament started last Friday night with the U13 divisions and that went very well. Corriveau says they had a full slate of 16 teams. Then they marked their special celebration day on Monday and the Hockey Hall of Fame brought 20 different exhibits, including the Conn Smythe Trophy, the President’s Trophy and the Calder Cup, to name a few. They also had seven interactive games for the kids to play. 

 

They had showcase games all day from AAA down to A teams, including two girls teams, Huron Heat and Kincardine, to recognize their contribution to the beginning of Young Canada Week.

 

The highlight of Monday night was the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni team and a selection of Young Canada Week alumni players that had participated anywhere from 1967 up to 2002. So, they had 22 Young Canada Week alumni players taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni players and that included Doug Gilmour, Al Iafrate and Rick Vaive. Corriveau says the Leafs won that game, but they had a full house and it was a great time for everyone.

 

Corriveau says the U18 teams will start on Friday and continue through the weekend to wrap up the 75th anniversary of the Goderich Young Canada Week hockey tournament.