The Pontiac Provincal tournament wrap up

Brett Thoms
Shawville January 28, 2023
The U15/U18 Pontiac Provincal Tournament, was held in the Shawville arena last weekend. The tournament saw 15 teams from the Pontiac, the Ottawa Valley, The greater Ottawa-Gatineau area, and as far away as Chambly, Quebec face off in four divisions from Friday to Saturday.
The tournament was a round Robin, with each team being guaranteed at least three games.
Three of the four brackets, the U15A, the U15B, the U18B had four teams each, with the U18A having three teams.
On Friday night, at each Pontiac Lions game, every player from both teams was introduced under a spotlight followed by the national anthem.
While the tournament saw some intense games, on Sunday afternoon the tournament also hosted a MAGH game, which saw five and six-year-olds from the Pontiac Lions and Fort-Coulonge play in an exhibition game.
In terms of fundraising goals, at the bare minimum the tournament hoped to at least bring in some money, which is by no means guaranteed.
“To run one of these tournaments, it’s not an easy thing,” said Jeff Ireland, president of the six-member committee organizing the tournament. “It’s very expensive to run these because we have fees that go to hockey Quebec, we go fees that go to our governing body of Hockey Outaouais and then we have to pay for ice, we have to pay refs, we have to pay the timekeepers and then there’s the other things that we have going on as well.”
Ireland said that if the tournament does end up making money, they hope to reinvest some money into the Shawville arena’s sound system.
“This is the first time back off since covid. We’re really excited to have the tournament going again. For myself, I just want to say thank you to the other committee members for their dedication in getting this tournament organized. Thank you to the sponsors. Without them, these tournaments don’t happen as well as any of the volunteers that are helping us out on the weekend. We really appreciate it and we couldn’t do without you,” concluded Ireland.
The Loups Collines won the U15B/Bantam bracket, with the runners-up being the Fort-Coulonge Comets.
The Arnprior Packers won the U15A/Bantam bracket with the runners-up being the Cumberland Dukes.
The Les Rapides Chambly won the U18B-Midget bracket, with the runners-up being the Aylmer Pirates.
The Fort Coulonge Comets won the U18A/Midget bracket, with Nepean Raiders of Barrhaven.