The Airdrie Lightning was one of four division winners at Airdrie’s Midget Invitational Tournament last weekend.
The event, which ran Jan. 20 to 22 at the Ron Ebbesen Arena and the Plainsman Arena, featured a Tier 2 pool, a Tier 3 pool, a female division and a house pool, with 18 total teams competing.
The Lightning defeated the Olds Black Mambas in the Tier 2 final, the Indus Hurricane beat the Andrew Aces in Tier 3, Innisfail beat Airdrie in the female final and the Leduc Roughnecks 2A squad claimed the house final.
Airdrie City 2 won the house B final.
“We were really happy with the way everything turned out,” said Airdrie Hockey general manager Greg Wing.
“We had some excellent visiting teams and our Airdrie teams really showed our true colours and made us proud. We didn’t have any major blowouts or any teams that were out of the running altogether. It was a very competitive tournament all the way around.”
Airdrie Hockey runs a Tyke and Novice tournament every year, with Atom and Peewee and Bantam and Midget alternating every other year. The Midget tournament has been running for nearly 30 years, despite not being an annual event.
“We have too many kids and not enough ice to run the tournament every year for every division,” Wing said.
“We’d like to get back to that, hopefully when the arenas (Genesis Place Phase III) are built we could.”
Wing praised the tournament’s organizing committee for hosting a successful event.
“It’s well organized and they have lots of ice time. We have good timing and the arenas are close together,” he said.
“A big thanks to Melanie Litoski, who is our tournament coordinator, who has gone above and beyond for all of our tournaments this year. The reason they are a success rests solely on the shoulders of her and her committees. Airdrie Minor Hockey is built on volunteers.”
