News

By Charles Musto
Special Event Correspondent

CBC's Hockey Night in Canada Presents Play On! held its final event of the 2009 season on August 29-30 with a great tournament in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Over 500 participants took back 1st Avenue North in a weekend that exuded the three F's -- fun, fairplay and fantastic hockey.

Highlights of the weekend included the celebrity game which featured teams of NHLers such as Colby Armstrong (Atlanta Thrashers), his brother Riley Armstrong (Calgary Flames) and Sheldon Brookbank (Anaheim Ducks), mixed with local media celebrities.

The game was intense and required sudden death overtime to declare a winner. In the end, it was Colby Armstrong's 9th point of the game (a nice lil' dipsy-dangle) that captured victory for the black team.

After scoring that game-winner, which he likened to Paul Henderson's goal in the 1972 Summit Series, Armstrong was embracing his ball-hog status.

"I had nine points, so it was worth it," he said, with perfect mock seriousness. "No one really said anything for me to come off, so I took advantage of it and pretty much pulled the iron man shift and lit it up."

On the last weekend before he heads back to Atlanta, Armstrong was enjoying the sunshine and the camaraderie of an old fashioned street tourney.

"I used to play all the time, 24/7 pretty much," he said. "It's kind of the life of a young guy who likes hockey in Saskatchewan."

The full trio of NHLers stuck around and signed autographs after, which kids of all ages proudly boasted on their Play On! t-shirts for the rest of the weekend.

When asked about his takeaways from the Saskatoon event, National Program Director Scott Hill commented on how much he enjoyed working with the charismatic Saskatoon referee crew; and also his appreciation for the sportsmanship displayed during this event. "It seemed that after every game, in every division, be it the winner or loser, each team would gather around for three cheers,"he said. "That's the way the program is supposed to work; and the people of Saskatchewan really embraced the wholesome elements of this program."

Congratulations go out to all the division winners as well as the LaLoche Rejects and Newfy Screech who qualified for the Play On! National Championships to be held in Victoria, British Columbia on January 29-30. The final game was closely contested, with the Rejects hanging on for the victory by a one goal margin. Both teams will now get a chance to compete for the title of "Canada's Greatest Street Hockey Players" and the Redwood Cup, as well as the recently announced $10,000 Grand Prize.

Special thanks to the city of Saskatoon and Saskatoon Tourism, who were so instrumental in making this event possible this year. We look forward to expanding on the success of this event and to developing an annual Play On! tournament in Saskatoon that will rival the likes of neighbouring Play On! events in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.

Play On!

With contribution from Kathryn Willms, The StarPhoenix

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