Travel teams from across the state will vie on have their team’s name etched on the Governor's Cup on Sunday, March 7, as the Indiana State Hockey Youth Championship returns – and is played in Fort Wayne.
The Indiana Youth Hockey State Championships are back after a nearly a decade off the ice, crowning new state champions in age divisions ranging from 8U to 16U.
Sixty-five teams from across the state will play a total of 111 games over 42 hours of hockey from Friday, March 5 through Sunday, March 7. Locally, several Parkview Sports Medicine Force teams from the Fort Wayne Amateur Hockey Association are taking part in the tournament
“It’s very important to our teams,” Roy Davis, vice president for Indiana State Youth Hockey, tells ParkviewSportsMedicine.com. “It gives them the opportunity to go up against teams of their own caliber throughout the state of Indiana. That’s what we‘re going for. That’s the whole point of being here.
Winning teams will be added to the inaugural Governors Cup, and be given a championship banner to signify the accomplishment at their home rinks. Additionally, each player from state champion and state runner-up teams will be awarded rings.
A majority of the games will be played at the state-of-the art SportONE/Parkview Icehouse. Additional games will be played at the Trine Thunder Arena in Angola. Additionally, an additional tournament will be played all weekend at an ice rink in Indianapolis for teams younger than 8U.
Davis says the dreamed of the tournament’s return nearly as soon as it went away. Last June, several members of Indiana Youth Hockey League--the Hoosier State’s caucus within Mid-Am Hockey—renewed the push for restarting the state championships. This weekend, some 40 volunteers will work tirelessly to present the best state tournament possible.
“We’ve been very fortunate within the State of Indiana to having pretty good mandates in place; and youth sports following those mandates,” Davis adds. “We’re able to hold such a tournament with our partners at Parkview Health giving us guidance in how to hold the tournament.”
Davis hopes the momentum from the return of the youth hockey state champions can serve as a launching pad for Fort Wayne to host bigger hockey events in the future, namely the 14U national tournament within the next two years.