This is our 50th annual tournament which has become one of Canada’s classic minor hockey tournaments for eight, nine and ten year old boys and girls. Last year more than 2,500 young hockey players participated in a tournament that hosted 241 games. That’s a lot of hockey!
The tournament was first held with eight teams playing in the old Preston Memorial Auditorium. If Alf Marriott and Bill Ledgerwood were alive today, they would be amazed to see the number of players and spectators from all over Ontario and the United States that now participate. Alf and Bill were minor hockey convenors in Preston’s paperweight division. Vern Gowing was the coach of the all-star paperweight team. However, there were no tournaments for this age grouping. Wilbur Wilkens and Bob Whittaker of the Preston Boys Hockey Association Executive joined the three men and organized a new tournament in Preston so that their team had a tournament to play in.
A trophy presented to a Guelph team, champions of the first tournament was a used trophy left over from a former peewee tournament. In those days the youngest division in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association was a grouping for 12 year olds and under. Preston’s new paperweight group was for boys 10 and under.
Preston’s paperweight division was changed to squirt, later changed to novice and now its novice, minor atom and atom. The teams that participated in the first year were all local teams. They came from Guelph, Hespeler, Ayr, Platsville, Elmira, New Hamburg, Waterloo and Preston. The tournament was a great success and in the following years Galt, Kitchener, Waterloo and Georgetown entered and have been faithful participants in the tournament over its long history.
Members of the original Preston paperweight team: Al Coates, Geoff Marriott, Peter Hanson, Grant Whittaker, Peter Berkley, Hugh Spencer, Bernie McEnaney, Gary Grant, Doug Gruhle, Paul Schmalz, Jim Sherring, Doug McIntyre, Brian Fisk, Ken Entwistle and Gary Brewer.
Over the years many interesting developments have taken place in connection with our tournament.
** In 1969, a young eight year old boy by the name of Wayne Gretzky was playing in the Preston tournament with a team from Brantford. He scored two out of the four goals that helped his team win the trophy in the championship game and was named the tournament’s MVP.
** In 1971, Wayne Gretzky appeared for the third year in the tournament playing for Brantford’s Steelers. He scored six goals and picked up 15 assists for a total of 21 points in four games, a record that has never been broken in the tournament.
** On May 16, 1971, tragedy struck hockey in the Town of Preston. The town’s only artificial ice arena was destroyed by fire. After losing the Preston Memorial Auditorium, the tournament had nowhere to go for a couple of years but soon recovered and carried on as a bigger and better event.
** On January 1, 1973, the municipalities of Preston, Hespeler and Galt merged into a new city called Cambridge. In 1992, Preston and Galt minor hockey associations became the Cambridge Minor Hockey Association, but Hespeler remained on its own.
** As time went by, a group of hockey enthusiasts who treasured the history of the Preston Boys Hockey Association and the tournament that had played a big part in its history, decided to incorporate the tournament as the Preston International Hockey Tournament. The name Preston lives on each year in the life of the tournament.
** As many as 300 volunteers can take part in this annual event. The moment a tournament has been completed there is a committee who starts planning for the next one. John McCash is the Association’s president and tournament chairman and spends many hours throughout the year working on tournament arrangements. McCash became chairman of the tournament in 1983 and continues in this role today. The tournament is operated by the Preston Minor Hockey Association Inc. and is a Not for Profit corporation that runs the tournament to benefit children in the community. As president of the corporation, McCash is committed to working with his volunteers for the betterment of the community. Some of the volunteers today have been with the organization from its beginning.
** Each year, about 80 air cadets and parents from Tutor Squadron 822, housed at the Waterloo Region International Airport, volunteer at the arenas to assist in the operation of the tournament.
** Two distinguished gentleman are the honorary chairpersons of the tournament: Canada’s best known “hockey father,” Walter Gretzky, and a devoted minor hockey supporter Bob Coine.
** Waterloo Region’s Chairman Ken Seiling attends the tournament each year. Ken and his brothers Don, Rick and the well-known Rod Seiling of the National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame, all played in this tournament during their minor hockey days.
** Over 100 professional hockey players have played in the tournament during their minor hockey days. Notable stars along with Wayne Gretzky and Rod Seiling include Daryl Sittler and Joe Thornton. A star from the recent 2008 Team Canada World Junior Hockey Tournament, Shawn Matthias was a star and two time MVP in our tournament.
** From one arena in the beginning, this annual event has spread out across the community and has used as many as 12 ice surfaces. From a handful of local teams, the tournament expanded to 132 teams last year coming from all over Ontario and the United States.
** Several thousands of players, team officials, parents and spectators who pour into the area for these power-packed games of hockey, bring a lot of business to the community. Motels, gas stations, restaurants, shopping plazas and even your corner stores all benefit from the business side of this event.
** Youth groups, particularly minor hockey, financially benefit from the tournament. However, the biggest benefit goes to the boys and girls who play the game for the enjoyment of hockey. Everyone who participates in the games is a winner. Some take home trophies, but some go home feeling it was just great to play and maybe next year win the big one. This year ever player will receive a specially designed gold medallion recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the Preston International Hockey Tournament.
