HockeyFest draws 50 teams to Windsor’s Riverfront Festival Plaza
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Hockey fans who peeled themselves away from watching the Leafs, the Oilers and the Jets in the NHL playoffs on the weekend got a chance to lace up – their running shoes, not their skates – during the HockeyFest tournament at Rivefront Festival Plaza.
About 50 teams, with some 500 players, took part in the ball-hockey tournament and attended the evening country music concert with the Cambridge-area duo the Reklaws, Waterloo’s Nate Haller and Pickering’s Griffin Palmer.
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The ball-hockey tournament and the concert helped to raise funds for mental health initiatives and was aimed at getting people interested in outdoor activities, said Myriah Kay, tournament director for HockeyFest.
“We started the concept of HockeyFest to try to get kids outdoors again. We grew up (with) street hockey,” Kay said.
“With COVID, a lot of youth lost some pretty progressive years. So socialization, being outdoors, kind of got cut down. We’re trying to just bring that essence back, get people outside playing, get people interacting, being on team. We’re trying to just get people outside again.”
HockeyFest, based in London, holds tournaments throughout North America, Kay said.
Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island arranged to bring the tournament to the Riverside Festival Plaza. “They brought us here. We really wanted to make something different for Windsor, and with that, we were able to incorporate a concert tonight. So a lot of the money is going to go back to charity,” Kay said.
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The Reklaws, siblings Jenna and Stuart Walker, best known for their song Long Live the Night, featured in CFL Thursday Night Foorball broadcasts in 2018-19, took part in a celebrity game, which also featured former NHLers Troy Crowder and Zack Kassian.
Part of the money raised will go to the Flo Walker Stardust Fund, which was launched by The Reklaws in memory of their mother, a charity initiative that supports Kids Help Phone.
The competing teams, which featured male and female players, came from Windsor and Essex County, and across southern Ontario, including the London area, the GTA and a couple of teams from the United States took part. HockeyFest tournaments have included kids as young as four and even people in their 70s, said Kay.
Teams played three-on-three with a goaltender, and all games had referees.
Scott Glover, with the Hotham Building Materials team, who spent time between games at the target practice activity, rekindled his appreciation for ball hockey, which he played as a child.
“I’m sweating, it’s competitive,” Glover said. “Everybody should play this, absolutely. Get out, get off your computers and come play some.”
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