The annual Tomcat Tournament has came and went, and not without some last minute hurdles. A few problems sprung up early when the hall was opened up to find the baseball batting cages still occupying the Kapusta floor. The arena facilities team quickly sprung into action to disassemble and clear the floor. Hall management assured the Tomcats that equipment would be cleared…first failure. With the the help of many Tomcats, games were started by 8:40am. But then, midway through the first game the baseball group showed up and asked what we were doing. They too had the hall booked for this Saturday. Stevo was quick to point out the Tomcats have had this hall on the last Saturday of February for 32 years now. After a few frantic phone calls, hall management confirmed the Tomcats had the hall, so the baseball group had to forego their plans…failure number two. Rocky assures everyone he confirmed usage of the hall for this day back in September of 2022 when the season began.
And speaking of the last Saturday in February…since last year the Tomcats held the tournament in April to end the season (due to a late start season coming out of COVID, and since there was no tournament at all in 2021 due to COVID, yesterday marked 1092 days since Tomcats played on the last Saturday of February…it is good to be back!
Making this day happen, Tomcat Management would like to thank a few folks who did their part to make the day a success:
- Soupy and Kamikaze for organizing the entire tournament…sometimes it is like herding cats
- The Captains – Big Easy, Animal, Green Giant and Hatchie for paying for great shirts, great team names, great logos, etc.
- Refs – The Rake and Doc for volunteering their time and having to listen to many Tomcats bitch and moan
- Hollywood for handling team shirts and the overall Tomcat shirt for this year…always helping even though no longer playing
- Jingles for getting the pizza coordinated and paid for
Also, a solid by Lovie and Tweety…both guys missed last year’s tournament after committing and came this year with their case of beer fines in tow…that is how real Tomcats make up for misses!
So now to the hockey…
Four really stacked teams all sporting world-beating goal tending. This was the deepest teams ever in a Tomcat tournament. Also, the Tomcats reverted to a once-previously-used format where each team plays every other team twice, meaning shorter and more games. This made for quick, and very intense games. A few times there were shouts to “play the ball,” and only a couple of minor incidents that had to be dealt with. There was stick broken at one point but the player, who normally is as cool as the guy from the Dos Equis commercials, will remain only known to those in attendance. He apologizing profusely afterwards.
After all 12 (well 11.5) games were played (last game did not really matter and The Terror was hit and was down for a few minutes, so it was better to call the game after the first period), the two teams that stood tall and went into the Championship were Green Giants Stalkers and Animals Rangers.
In the regular game play, each team had a victory over the other. However, the Green Giant talkers were ultimately too much for the Rangers, and after it was all said and done, the Stalkers took home Stanley’s Cup.
The End of an Era
In what was Stevo’s final tournament, as he had previously announced his retirement at the end of the 2022-2023 season, the Tomcats used this day to honour him and his undying love and support for Tomcat Nation. He started it all, he kept it going, and to this day, he still is the driving force behind the Tomcat. “He is the glue, he is the heartbeat, he is the life blood of the Tomcats and the reason we are all hear, and still together since 1989,” said Rocky as he presented Stevo with a gift…a custom Tomcat wall sign and one-of-one matching shirt. Stevo was also awarded the MVP in his final tournament, as he is the Tomcat’s Most Valuable Person of all time.
After an emotional speech by Stevo, Tomcats Forever was sung to honor the moment. A banner raising will be held in the fall to put a final marker on Stevo’s storied career.
Honorable mention for MVP goes out to Sunny for playing like he was 15 years younger and putting on a clinic of passing, shooting and hockey sense all tournament long. Also, the Most Gentleman award was given to Tonto for always playing fair, always smiling, and always being a great team mate!
Great day in Tomcat Nation!
REMINDER – No hockey this Tuesday. We will resume Tuesday night hockey on March 7th