4 the Love of the Game tournament fills two arenas

hockey1-web
A Confederation Ice Ranger gets the puck past the Ft. McMurray Sharks goalie at the Morinville arena Friday night.

Photos By Stephen Dafoe

Morinville / Legal – Twenty-four years after Novice hockey player Dennis Blair Borduzak passed away, his memory is kept alive through a memorial tournament that entered its 16th year over the weekend. The annual 4 the Love of the Game Tournament kicked off in Morinville and Legal Friday afternoon and continued through the weekend. Thursday’s games were cancelled due to weather; ties were registered for each of those games. Final tournament games were played Mar. 24. Results were not available by our press deadline.

hockey2-web
A Sturgeon Hockey Club Novice 3B player skates through fog and light at the Legal Arena at the start of Friday night’s game.

hockey4-web
A Sturgeon Hockey Club Novice 3B player scrambles for the puck after the drop with a SCH Novice 3A player (blue) during a game in Legal.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 Comments

  1. “4 the Love of the Game” speaks of a passion and intrinsic motivation to play hockey. It is unfortunate and maddening that so many parents (a majority) have taken to paying their children for every goal they score (yes, even in “fun” tournaments).

    Rewarding kids for goal scoring does not encourage team play or good sportsmanship – why pass? Furthermore, with the cost of hockey these days, shouldn’t the fact that kids get to play at all, that their parents (and in many cases siblings) give up evenings, weekends, and holidays, be enough? Why should they get paid on top of all this?

    Kids should play organized sports to learn important values. They need to be good teammates, be encouraging, do their best so that they can stand proud personally, and as part of a larger group. They also should be learning that winning isn’t everything, that participating in athletics is about setting goals for yourself, doing your personal best, being fit, and doing something you enjoy. These things are not being fostered by paying kids $1 – $5 per goal. It is counter-productive and a very misguided view of good parenting. There are so many more positive ways to reward your children.

    If you feel that you have to pay your child to go out on the ice and give it their all, maybe you need to reconsider who they are playing for in the first place: themselves or YOU?

    (And if you must. Please keep it to yourselves. Don’t flash it around and make a big disgusting show of it at the end of every game. You are simply poisoning the atmosphere for those who are there for the right reasons.)

    Kids who love hockey don’t need to get paid to play: you can take THAT to the bank.

  2. People must not forget all the time and effort that was put in by the numerous volunteers and parents that put on this event. To them a great big THANK YOU. Wish I could have been there to encourage all participants.

Comments are closed.