Students from Collingwood's elementary and secondary schools will be gearing up for the return of Hockey Day in Collingwood this week.
The event is a seven-year, local sports tradition that has been on hiatus since 2020. It is a 10-team, fun, co-ed elementary school tournament running from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena. To cap the day off, the "Battle of Collingwood" will play out on the ice as Collingwood Collegiate Institute and Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School's varsity girls and boys teams play matches at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively.
The Collingwood Collegiate hockey course has been busy organizing the return of this year's event, including running free practices for participating Grade 7/8 elementary school students. All teams will play three to four matches during the day, in an event that allows school friends to have fun playing hockey together.
Participating schools for this year's elementary school tournament running 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena and Central Park Arena include Mountain View Elementary School, Cameron Street Public School, Admiral Elementary School, Birchview Dunes Elementary School, Grade 7/8 from Stayner Collegiate Institute, Nottawa Elementary School, Nottawasaga Creemore Public School, and St. Mary's Catholic School.
The evening varsity games between the two high school's girls' and boys' teams will take place at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena.
The event is free for spectators, but donations at the door will be welcome and allocated to the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital Foundation.
In addition to local youth hockey, spectators can enjoy entertainment from the CCI drum line, and support the Collingwood Lightning U7 girls, who will play an exhibition match during the second intermission of the varsity girls' game in the evening.
During the varsity boy's match, proceeds from the chuck-a-puck contest will be donated to the hospital foundation.
Local businesses including Trott's Sports Excellence, Collingwood Nissan, The Candy Factory and The Institute of Sport and High Performance, as well as the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association donated prizes for the Hockey Day in Collingwood event.
