{"id":22784,"date":"2019-01-24T18:17:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T23:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=22784"},"modified":"2019-01-28T13:21:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:21:45","slug":"panthers-set-to-host-prestigious-silver-stick-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/panthers-set-to-host-prestigious-silver-stick-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers set to host prestigious Silver Stick tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The best of the best on ice are headed to Aurora.
\nThe Central York Girls Hockey Association and the Aurora Panthers announced last week that for the twentieth straight year, the Town of Aurora will host the International Silver Stick tournament from Feb. 1 \u2013 3.
\nOpening ceremonies will kick off at the Aurora Community Centre on the Friday afternoon, before 52 teams from all levels of the Atom and Bantam age levels take to the ice to determine the top minor hockey programs in North America.
\n\u201cWe initially had only Atom and Bantam A and AA divisions,\u201d said Bruce Bennett, scheduler and tournament manager for the majority of Aurora\u2019s tenure as host. \u201cAbout five years ago, we added the BB divisions \u2013 and we now have teams on waiting lists.\u201d
\nSix Aurora squads will be looking to defend home ice, while three American teams will be joining the competition: the Anaheim Lady Ducks, the St. Clair Shores Saints, and the Colorado Rocky Mountain Lady Riders.
\n\u201cDespite much of the crowd being player families and friends, interest in the tournament continues to be strong,\u201d said Don Bailkowski, who has worn a number of different hats over Aurora\u2019s twenty years as host. \u201cOne growth area is the number of scouts from both Canadian and US universities, interested in watching the Bantam AA games (ages 13 & 14 years). It\u2019s the highest level for girls of that age.\u201d
\nA staple on the minor hockey calendar for the past sixty years, the Silver Stick tournament has grown from a four-team festival to the behemoth it is today, with regional tournaments held across North America, before culminating in the International final.
\n\u201cIn the beginning, it was a scattering of getting people together,\u201d said Bailkowski. \u201cWe had some struggling years, where sometimes things didn\u2019t go as planned, but at the end of the day we got through and volunteers have really come through.\u201d
\n\u201cI would say for the last fifteen years, the Silver Stick tournament has been tremendous. Great turnout, the public has been so supportive, and the volunteers have been fantastic.\u201d
\nBailkowski said it now takes approximately fifty volunteers to put on a smooth show of this magnitude.
\n\u201cWhen you take into consideration timekeepers, the registration desk, everything from making sure everyone\u2019s fed to what\u2019s on the ice.\u201d
\nThe tournament will be spread among the Town\u2019s various ice pads, including the Aurora Community Centre (AAC), the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex (SARC), and a few games at LaBrier Arena on the St. Andrew\u2019s College campus. Hockey-related displays will be featured at both the ACC and SARC locations, and a unique silent auction will be held at the ACC until 3 p.m. on Saturday February 2. Vendors will also be on-hand.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best of the best on ice are headed to Aurora.
\nThe Central York Girls Hockey Association and the Aurora Panthers announced last week that for the twentieth straight year, the Town of Aurora will host the International Silver Stick tournament from Feb. 1 \u2013 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019-01-24-07.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5Vu","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-17 10:28:59","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\/22784","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=22784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}