Inaugural Sticks In The Middle Tournament is a hit
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JAMESTOWN -- For a long while, Tom McFall has hoped to put together a hockey tournament or benefit that went to a good cause. This year, when his granddaughter was born prematurely, she spent time in the NICU and a cause close to home was there.
"It's something I've always had in the back of my mind, running some type of tournament," McFall said Monday, a day after the inaugural tournament closed at Northwest Arena. "Whether it was a kids tournament or adults tournament, for a purpose and to give back. Seeing Shannon and Jordan go through what they did with Joelle it was a no-brainer to do something like that."
With the idea put together on June 29, it took less than two months for McFall and his family to coordinate and pull off the first Sticks In The Middle tournament. In that short period of time, the tournament was filled with 60 skaters drafted into four teams of 15 and five rotating goalies. Eleven sponsors gave a big hand with tournament costs and many members of the community helped raise money for the Sisters Hospital NICU.
"It was better than expected," McFall said about the tournament. "To have 60 skaters, 59 with one dropping out, and five goalies rotating and playing the games, it just turned out incredible."
Not only were the participants able to help a good cause, but they were able to do that playing a sport they love with some great competition on the ice.
"We had a draft Thursday night," McFall added. "I set up groups of four and eight of somewhat equal level players and did a seven-round draft which even had a couple trades. Every game except one ended with the winner winning by one, two or three goals and we had one outlier that didn't go that way."
The culmination of a perfect weekend was with the championship game going to a triple overtime and McFall's son-in-law scoring the game-winning goal for Weaver Material Service, Inc. in a 6-5 victory against Kendall Club PBA JPD.
"The championship game went to triple overtime," McFall said. "It was so much fun to watch. It was 3-on-3 for three minutes, 2-on-2 for two minutes and then it was a 1-on-1.
The tournament went smoothly and that had plenty to do with the little details McFall put into the event and how balanced the competition was.
"I got so many people giving such really nice compliments," McFall said. "Just the small touches, like I had all the jerseys hanging up in the locker room beforehand, each player got a little skate towel with some sponsors on it and some hockey tape. The camaraderie of the locker rooms, some of the comments -- and several observers too, not even players -- were commenting on how much fun it was, how relaxed it was."
The main goal of the tournament was to raise money for the Sisters Hospital NICU wishlist and that cause resonated with players competing along with members of the community.
"We were there for many reasons," McFall said about the event. "But the main reason, to play hockey and raise some money for the NICU at Sisters. I had one family come up to me after Saturday's game and they had a little 5-year-old there that was a 22-week premature baby that was at Sisters for 98 days they said and they were so thankful for doing something like this."
It was an easy decision for the competitors to participate and it was even easier to raise money for the Sisters NICU.
"Some of the guys were telling me it was no-brainer trying to sell raffle tickets," McFall said. "As soon as they said what the cause was they sold their raffle tickets in minutes. It just turned out so so great. I haven't really had a chance to sit down and reflect on it, but obviously I want to make it bigger and I had a lot of people come to me that didn't play saying they wish they did now."
With the success of the inaugural tournament, players and members of the community that did not participate are already looking forward to next year's event.
"We got this put together in just about two months," McFall said. "We couldn't have written the script any better that the championship game was a triple overtime with my other son-in-law scoring the game-winning goal. My brother came down from Vermont and played, it turned into a little family affair. We had really nice crowds with several people coming to watch, even with some youth hockey after us, they were watching and cheering. It just turned out a thousand times better than I anticipated."
Not only is next year's event practically a given, it is expected to grow in size and be an even bigger donation sent to Sisters Hospital NICU.
"We're already talking about next year," McFall said. "Keeping the same cause, all the guys and girls that played were pretty adamant with doing this again next year for the same cause. I think that we'll maybe have six teams next year."