{"id":19348,"date":"2017-12-13T17:05:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T22:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19348"},"modified":"2017-12-13T17:05:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T22:05:44","slug":"3hl-tour-returns-to-aurora-for-christmas-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/3hl-tour-returns-to-aurora-for-christmas-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"3HL Tour returns to Aurora for Christmas Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overtime, all the time.
\nThat is the fast-paced experience fans get with the 3HL Tour, making a stop in Aurora over the holidays in the league\u2019s third year.
\nDubbed as the world\u2019s first professional three-on-three hockey league, eight teams from across York Region and the GTA will vie for a share of a $15,000 purse in the Aurora Christmas Classic, returning to Aurora after a successful inaugural visit last season.
\nThe Markham Millionaires, Toronto Bees, Niagara Rapids, Newmarket Saints, Milton Flyers, Simcoe County Clippers, and Hamilton Tigers will take to the ice at the Aurora Community Centre, this year joined by some hometown flavour.
\nThe home crowd will be represented by the Aurora Avalanche, in their first year in the league.
\n\u201c3-on-3 Hockey provides more open play, which allows players to be more creative with the puck and makes for more scoring opportunity,\u201d said Pat Gregoire, Director of Media Relations with the Tour. \u201cThe NHL has seen a ton of success with their new 3-on- 3 overtime format that has created end-to- end non-stop action, but only for five minutes. With the 3HL, we like to say its overtime, all the time.\u201d
\nIt was Aurora\u2019s PJ Buys who first brought the tour home last season for the first event at the ACC, titled the Aurora Dangle Fest. It proved to be an overwhelming success, when over 600 fans packed the rink to watch the revolutionized game of hockey.
\n\u201c(Buys) approached Justin Fox, the CEO and founder of the league, and was adamant that the 3HL make a stop in Aurora,\u201d said Gregoire. \u201cHe told us if we came to the ACC, the seats would be filled with fans wanting to see exciting professional 3-on- 3 hockey.\u201d
\n\u201cAurora is a great hockey town that has a very tight-knit community that has been unbelievable in supporting this event.\u201d
\nBuys, now 27, cut his teeth at the Junior level with the OJHL\u2019s Newmarket Hurricanes from 2008-10, before playing at the collegiate level with the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League.
\nAfter a stint with the Newmarket Saints last season, Buys took a leadership role as the captain of the new Avalanche team in the offseason.
\nWith just two games under their belt heading into the Aurora Christmas Classic, the Aurora squad will be looking to establish themselves in a highly competitive league.
\nThe parity in the league is rarely matched in today\u2019s pro hockey world, with the tour having repeat champions for only the first time ever last weekend, when the Toronto Bees won their second tournament in a row.
\nBuys shares the team lead in points so far with Kyle Morrison, also an ex-OJHLer who competed at the collegiate level.
\nBoasting talent from levels as high as the NHL, the action consists of two seven minute halves per game, with no icing or offsides.
\nThe event runs December 23 from 12 \u2013 3 p.m. at the Aurora Community Centre. Tickets are $9.99 for children seventeen and under, and $19.99 for adults, while more immersive experiences can be bought at a higher price.
\nFor more information, visit www.3hltour.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overtime, all the time.
\nThat is the fast-paced experience fans get with the 3HL Tour, making a stop in Aurora over the holidays in the league\u2019s third year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-524","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 11:02:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}