The Jr. 67s, the Ottawa AAA Senators and the Ottawa Valley Titans represented the city at the 2008 Central Regional Midget AAA Championships earlier this month.
The whispers skate blades make on the ice. The goose bumps that appear on your forearm. The familiar shouts of “come on, ref.” The wacky playoff haircuts. These are all reasons why Ottawa resident Luc Bedard says he loves hockey.
“There’s nothing like coming to the rink,” he said. “As a Canadian, it’s the most authentic experience we have.”
If Bedard speaks the truth, then the Bell Sensplex was dripping with Canadian authenticity. He was on hand watching the 2008 Central Regional Midget AAA Championships that were held in Kanata earlier this month.
“It’s great to watch kids who are out there for the love of the game. I also enjoy the red mohawks,” he said of the Ajax-Pickering Raiders, who were donning the haircut for unity purposes.
The tournament pitted the best teams from across Ontario in a round-robin tournament to decide who will represent the province at the Canadian midget championships, the Telus Cup, in Arnprior from April 21 – 27.
The age of midget players range from 16 to 18.
This year, the field included teams from Sudbury, London, Ajax-Pickering, Vaughn and Ottawa.
The Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves captured the title, defeating the London Jr. Knights 5-2 in the final.
The Ottawa Valley Titans claimed bronze.
The AAA Senators and the Jr. 67s failed to qualify for the tournament's semifinal. Darrell Campbell, coach of the Ottawa Jr. 67s, said the event gave a chance for Ottawa to raise the profile of minor hockey.
“It brings in people from the outside to see the best midget hockey players in Ontario,” Campbell said.
“It certainly shows off the quality of play out there in midget hockey.”
Tony House, tournament chair, said that many of the players will go on to play at higher levels.
“You will see these guys in the OHL, Junior B and the NCAA,” he said.
Eric Carlson is one of those players. The Jr. 67s forward said he hopes to use midget as trampoline to higher levels of hockey. “I have a tryout with the Lewiston Maniacs in the Quebec major junior league,” he said. “I hope to do well there.”
Ottawa had three area teams participating in the tournament: the Jr. 67s, who are composed of players from Gloucester and the downtown area; the host Ottawa AAA Senators, who draw their players from Nepean and Kanata; and the Ottawa Valley Titans, whose players come from the rest of the Ottawa Valley.
The event continues the trend of Ottawa hosting high profile sporting events.
In the past year, the nation’s capital has hosted the FIFA Under 20 World Cup of Soccer, the CIS Final 8 men’s basketball championships and the CIS women’s hockey championships.
Next year will be even bigger, with Ottawa hosting the World Junior Hockey Championships. House said the city is showing that it is serious about sports.
“We can now hang with the Torontos and Montreals and lure events,” he said.
“I think it helps the profile of the city. The city in itself gets behind events like this.”
Carlson said he loves playing in such a high profile tournament. “My friend are texting me saying I saw you on television. So it’s really cool,” he said
Rogers Television showed 14 of 26 tournament games.
Greg Clarke, president of the Ottawa AAA Senators, said his team entered a bid to host the tournament in November and found out they had won in December.
“I knew Ottawa could benefit greatly from an event like this,” he said.
“We hope the tournament builds the profile for midget hockey in the city,” he said.
As for Ottawa’s recent streak of hosting events, Clarke said Ottawa is a great place for teams and fans to come.