That’s the lesson organizers of the Second Annual Port aux Basques Ladies Rec Hockey Tournament learned this year.
The tournament was held on Feb. 17 and 18. Organizer Krystal Blackler said last year, there were several teams from across the province who traveled out for the tournament. This year with was strictly a hometown affair.
Out-of-town teams expressed an interest in the lead-up to the tourney, but none were able to get enough players to commit.
Luckily, the womens’ rec hockey league has a lot of participants so Blackler was able to create four local teams for the competition.
“The girls were saying they didn’t know how it would work playing against their own teammates but in the end they said they had just as much fun,” said Blackler.
Normally the league plays every Sunday evening with whoever shows up.
For the tournament, each team had 10 players. A few university students traveled home to take part in the event.
It was a round robin, where each team was guaranteed at least three games. The two teams that went on to the championship game each played a fourth game.
The four teams were Port aux Basques Ladies, Notre Dame, Blaze and the Hockey Moms.
Notre Dame faced off against the Blaze in the championship game, and the blaze came out on top, winning 3-1.
Blackler said all games were close, with the winning team only coming out on top with one or two goals at most. She said last year’s tournaments had more lopsided scores.
Blackler said a third annual tourney is already in the works for next year.
