Hitting the streets for the nation's game

 About 350 hockey enthusiasts took the opportunity to celebrate Canada Day this past weekend by playing the nation's sport in the streets of Downtown Sudbury.

On June 30 and July 1, CBC Hockey Night in Canada's Play On! street hockey tournament closed part of Elgin Street, where five rinks were set up.

"It's a four-on-four street hockey tournament and (part of) Canada's largest street hockey festival," Brandon Pickard, national program manager and Sudbury event director, said. "What better way to spend Canada Day then by taking back the streets and playing a little hockey?"

While Play On! has been taking place in other parts of the country since 2003, this was the first year Sudbury played host to the tournament. Sudbury is one of 19 locations across Canada to host the event this year.

"This year we had 47 teams out during the weekend ... of all ages," Pickard said. "The youngest teams ranged in age from seven and under, all the way up to the 50s."
 

More than 350 people of all ages took part in the CBC Hockey Night in Canada’s Play On! street hockey tournament, which took place over the Canada Day weekend in downtown Sudbury. Photo by Laurel Myers.

The tournaments, which were held throughout May and June, will culminate with a nationally televised championship final on CBC.

"The top four men's teams and top two women's teams (from this tournament) will advance to the Play-On national championships, which is in Niagara Falls as part of sports day in Canada," Pickard said.

The event director said he was getting nothing but "great feedback all weekend."

"We hope to get more people out and grow the event to well over 100 teams," he said. "We know Sudbury's hockey blood runs deep and we'll be back next year."

Sudbury resident Colin Pardoe was one of the participants taking part in tournament. He said it offered him and his friends, who had all come in from out of town to play, a flashback to their youth.

"We love road hockey," Pardoe said. "We grew up playing on the streets and this is a little throw-back to our days of when we could actually run for more than half an hour."

His team finished second overall in the round robin, before losing their first playoff game. Pardoe said the competition "was pretty evenly matched and everybody was really sportsmanlike in our division."

"It's just like road hockey days — no hard feelings," he added with a smile.

For more information, visit playon.ca.

Posted by Laurel Myers