Ryan Willman
Arrow Lakes News
The Falcon’s Cup hockey tournament is fast becoming a traditional mainstay on the Nakusp sports calendar. Enjoying its third consecutive year of competition, the 2014 cup is set to see five teams faceoff at the Nakusp arena during the December 20 weekend.
Organizer Mark Macaulay is stoked for this year’s competition.
“We have five goalies and five captains doing the draft on Friday night and enough guys signed up to field five teams,” Macaulay said.
Modeled after the Kaslo Jamboree, Macaulay brought the tournament concept to Nakusp after he arrived in town for his RCMP posting in 2011.
“I was talking about the game to some of the guys and they jumped on board. They were really excited and we ran with it and it was a hit right away,” Macaulay explained.
The core concept of the tournament is creating an opportunity for current community members and Nakusp hockey alumni to gather for a weekend of exclusive Kootenay hockey. Having the parameters of participation in place keeps the tournament local, and more personable for the fans.
“Yeah, its fun, the hockey — the whole works, but for me, what I enjoy the most is it brings a lot of families together at Christmas time.” Macaulay explained, adding, “One of the best moments last year was I was in net and I looked out at the ice and saw all the James brothers and their dad on one line. That was nice, you know, just bringing people together.”
The tournament also acts as a vehicle to raise money to support the Nakusp Minor Hockey organization. The first year push managed to raise enough money to purchase swank looking jerseys for minor hockey, each of which sport a Falcon Cup patch. Last year the tournament broadened its scope by naming teams after health related charities with the winning team, Heart and Stroke, making a donation to their namesake. 2013 also saw the addition of the popular shoot-out competition that was decidedly won by Ryan Bateman.
This year the Falcon Cup organizers are not sure what the team names will be, but they have orchestrated the addition of a shoot-out to decide the outcome of tied games at the end of regulation time. There is also talk of taking advantage of the local engraving opportunity to upgrade the Falcon Cup to include the names of past winners.
Macaulay is looking forward to working with Zac Wethal, a man who “knows how to organize,” as well as all of the other volunteers that make the tournament a reality.
Macaulay would like to thank the stellar efforts of Donna Rebman, who champions the organization of the necessary beer gardens that help grease the wheels of competition; Val Scott for her dedication in the time keeper’s box; Minor Hockey for their support; and the Nakusp community whose attendance makes the whole affair an entertaining donnybrook.
