Action from the first weekend of the Silver Stick tournament

The first of two weekends that make up the annual Silver Stick hockey tournament went by quite well, one of its organizers, Sav Dagostino told Sudbury.com during the late afternoon of Nov. 19.

At the time, the Porcupine Gold Kings were facing off against the Timmins Flyers at the Carmichael Arena during the U18 A championship game, and two more games were yet to take place that evening.

During the afternoon game at the Carmichael Arena, a crowd supporting both sides was passionately cheering on their loved ones on the ice, which Dagostino said is the positive atmosphere they strive for throughout the tournament.

The Gold Kings ended up beating the Flyers 4-2. 

“Everyone wants to play our tournament,” Dagostino said. “Every hotel and motel is always booked.”

Run by volunteers such as himself, Dagostino said his main goal with the tournament is for everyone to have fun and that injuries are kept to a minimum. 

The whole tournament is about “giving back,” he said, counting 86 games played during this weekend and a total of 96 teams participating.

Silver Stick hockey action returns Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, during which another 141 games will be played in Greater Sudbury between the T.M. Davies Community Centre and Arena, the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the McClelland Community Centre and Arena and the Carmichael Arena. A full schedule of games can be found by clicking here.

Admission is free to all tournament games, which Dagostino said is a means of keeping things open to the community.

This is the 53rd year of Sudbury’s involvement in the Silver Stick tournament. Teams come from throughout Ontario to play, with one coming from Quebec. 

Winning teams go on to play in qualifier and finals tournaments in southern Ontario.

"We're a regional tournament. All the winners here go from Sudbury down to all the qualifiers and finals that are played down south," he said.