U14 & U16 tournaments Nov. 1 - 3 in Woodstock
Compiled By MARK SCHADENBERG
Tradition in minor hockey in Woodstock represents a Charles Schulz bird and the long-time Legion Minor Hockey Tournament weekends
The Woodstock Minor Hockey Association (WMHA) Junior Navy Vets travel teams no longer utilize the Peanuts character in its logo, but there will be many appearances by the cartoon Woodstock over two upcoming weekends.
Nov. 1 - 3 is both U14 and U16 Niagara Region qualifying tournaments in the prestigious International Silver Stick program. From Nov. 15-17, Woodstock will then host the U10 and U12 qualifiers. Minor hockey teams always enjoy the pursuit of in-season tournaments to compete in during their respective Alliance regular season schedules.
With Woodstock hosting 4 age groups, each of the WMHA entries receive an invitation to compete, and also have their tournament fee waived by the organizing committee as it re-directs income / revenue from previous years to continue its local hockey tradition.
When it's time to roll out the red carpet at the Reeves Community Complex, the person who should be recognized first and foremost is long-time event convener Bill Carrothers (Sports Wall Of Fame plaque picture). His resume includes retired high school principal, high school football and hockey coach, restauranteur, hospital foundation board, harness racing hobbyist, local oldtimers hockey league chair, and more than 40 years with the Legion (Branch 55) Minor Hockey Tournament Committee.
The Carrothers crew has included many volunteers over the decades -- Alf, Pat and Bob Langdon, Ted Thorn, Roger Boyd, Dave Hay, Ted Vleuten, Ed Cook, Graham Wallace, Steve Chesley, and many many others.
With both tournaments acting as qualifiers for the International Silver Stick finals (tournaments) in all 4 age divisions it's an opportunity to attract many top 'A - AA' squads to the city.
The annual Silver Stick competitions date back to 1956, beginning in Richmond, which is now part of the Greater Ottawa area as they organized cross-border challenges with Potsdam, N.Y. In just about its 70 years of existence it has multiplied from 4 participating teams to 65,000 players annually according to www.silverstick.org
Overall champions are now awarded in boys' and girls' divisions.
The most recent WMHA International Silver Stick division finals are the 2022-23 Woodstock U12 team, and the 2021-22 Woodstock U18 squad. An interesting note about that age group is that the Woodstock Junior Navy Vets won 'A' Ontario (OHF) titles in both 2022 and 2023.
Scrolling through the event's archives, I noted that the first-ever Woodstock Silver Stick champs were the 73-74 Bantam team.
The Nov. 1 -3 weekend is upon us and features the U16 WMHA playing Burlington at 9 p.m. on Friday, Brant at Noon on Saturday, and Sarnia at 5:15 on Saturday. The round robin schedule for the U14 Junior Navy Vets was not published on the WMHA website when I checked on Oct. 29.
Additional busy minor hockey tournaments in Woodstock includes the Wildcats events Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, and also Jan. 2 - 5 with 11 divisions planned for early in the 2025 sports calendar.
The Woodstock Recreation Advisory Committee
created this scrapbook binder a few years ago
to assist in honouring previous inductees as a resource book.
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