Welcome to the 54th Preston International Hockey Tournament. Our tournament committee welcomes all players, team officials, referees and spectators with a special welcome, once again, to our American neighbours that made the trip during these tough economic times. We really appreciate the participation of teams that travel so many miles.
We sincerely hope that all the players, coaches and parents will have an enjoyable time and when the tournament is over, everyone will travel safely home, with memories that will be treasured forever. Hopefully, new friendships will be made, and previous ones renewed. Please visit our "Hospitality Room" located in the Duncan Pollock hall of the Preston Memorial Auditorium, where you can have all the free coffee you wish throughout the tournament. Hot food, soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages are available along with as many trophies that we have room for. The All Star sweaters that will be worn by seventy-two successful players in Sunday's All Star games are also on display. In addition, the Hospitality Room is the location of this year's Pro Hockey Life "Top Shot" competitions where all tournament participants will compete to be the top Shot in three age groups (8, 9 and 10), with the winners receiving a pair of Bauer Vapor skates.
Many lifelong and new volunteers are caught up in the spirit of what we do. Our Memorial Hall of Fame on our Web Site identifies many of our past volunteers that are no longer with us. Unfortunately this year we lost Kathy Koehler who worked for over two decades in our Hospitality Room making it a very special element of our tournament. We will all miss her.
I would personally like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all of our tournament volunteers. Through consistent hard work, level of commitment and perseverance, each and every one of you have made a hockey tournament a significant life-enhancing element of our personal lives and provided a wonderful and strong sense of social cohesion in our own micro community.
A special thank you is once again extended to the Cambridge Fury of the Cambridge Girls Hockey Association, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets as well as "Kid's Can Play", whose mission is to provide financial assistance for a variety of minor sports, to less fortunate children in our community. We also appreciate the continued support of Zehrs Markets a truly national company that gets involved in every community it serves. We can't thank Zehrs enough as well as some of their suppliers including Schneider's Meats, Vachon Cakes, Dares Cookies, Wrigley's, Campbell Soup, Pepsi, Humpty Dumpty Chip, Weston Bakeries, Old Dutch Chips, Frito Lay Chips and Christies for their generous donations. Finally, we welcome back the participation of the Hespeler Optimists, including Glen Einwechter and great bunch of community minded guys who once again have contributed toward the cost of this year's trophies.
For your convenience, our web site, www.prestonhockeytournament.com, thanks to Brendt Garlick and our friends at Conestoga Rovers, makes it relatively easy to obtain tournament applications, register, communicate with tournament officials, get helpful information including maps, and instantly obtain scores and standings.
Good Luck to everyone, have a great tournament, and most of all have fun!
John McCash - President
Preston Minor Hockey Association Inc.
and Tournament Chairman
