Annual Tupling tournie raises funds for local sports

December 12, 2019 · 0 Comments

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

The ninth annual Michel Tupling Memorial Hockey Tournament took place at Honeywood arena on Friday, December 6, and Saturday, December 7.

The Tournament has raised over $100,000 over the years with proceeds going to various sports related causes and groups in the area.

“The tournament is in memory of Michael Tupling,” explained organizer Karla Tupling. “All the funds raised from the tournament go back to supporting kid in our community. This year we’re buying new hockey nets for the arena. We actually bought the first set of nets seven or eight years ago.”

Funds from the tournament have helped pay for a contribution to the ice surfacer in the arena, the sound system, contributions to Honeywood minor hockey, CanSkate, the local 4H Club, as well as the pitching machine at Mansfield Minor baseball.

“Funds raised can be for the arena, baseball, or 4H Club,” Ms. Tupling explained. “We also sponsor kids that maybe can’t afford to play hockey or kids who haven’t been able to learn to skate. A couple of years ago we had new kids that came out to play hockey and needed some extra time to learn how to skate so the tournament sponsored them to get extra ice time. It helps the kids, it helped the skating club and it helped the hockey club.”

This year there were five woman’s teams and six men’s teams that entered the Tournament. They play a round robin style tournament to find a spot in the final games which are held on Saturday evening.

Saturday action started with games beginning at 8:00 a.m. and went all day long.

The tournament also features a raffle and a silent auction to help raise funds.

Teams featured players from all skill levels and ages from regular players to those who haven’t been on the ice for a while.

“We’ve had donations from all kinds of people from around the community. It’s a joint effort in helping make this a successful tournament.”