Please refer to the following for the Mac's Tournament Schedule.
Mac’s Tournament The Mac's World Invitational AAA Midget Hockey Tournament is a prestigious ice hockey tournament held annually for midget aged players in
Calgary,
Alberta,
Canada. First held in 1978 as the
CP Challenge Cup, the tournament features 25 male and 15 female teams from across Canada, the
United States and
Europe.
The Mac's tourney is held every year beginning on Boxing Day, and concluding with the male and female championship games on New Years Day at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The championship game has been held in front of as many as 10,000 spectators, while tournament games see as many as 3,000 fans per game, the largest crowds many of the players will have played in front of at that point of their careers. Overall, the tournament draws as many as 100,000 spectators over seven days.
Match games are played at several Calgary arenas with the Max Bell Centre being the primary facility. Games are also held at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, and Centennial Arena.
Many participants of the Mac's tourney have gone on to play in the National Hockey League. These players are recognized by Mac's tourney officials by having their photos added to the tournaments wall of fame at the Max Bell Centre.
On January 2, 1989, Petr Nedved, playing for a Litvínov based team, left his hotel room in the middle of the night and walked into a Calgary police station declaring his intention to defect from Czechoslovakia.
The Mac's tourney is broken into five pools of five teams in the male division, and three pools of Five teams in the female division. Teams face each of their opponents in their pool in a round robin format before moving to a single elimination knockout format to determine a champion. In the male division, each pool winner, plus three wild cards advance to the quarter-finals. In the female division, each pool winner plus one wild card advances to the semi-finals.
Each pool is "hosted" by a Calgary area team. All five male teams - the Calgary Flames, Royals, Northstars and Buffaloes, as well as the Strathmore UFA Bisons play league games in the Alberta Midget Hockey League. The three female hosts are the Calgary Bruins, Chaos and Flyers. The remaining teams are invited to participate from midget leagues across Canada, the United States and Europe for a total of 40 participants.
Calgary Royals Teams Responsibilities for the Macs Tournament· Mac’s Tournament runs from December 26, to January 1, at various rinks in the city.
· Team Manager delegates assignment of mandatory Mac’s Tournment responsibilities to appointed Mac’s team rep. The Mac’s Team Rep will report directly to the CRAA Mac’s Tournament Rep.
· Mac’s Team rep is responsible for assigning all mandatory volunteer positions on the worksheet from their respective team, submitting their volunteer worksheets to the CRAA Mac’s Quadrant Rep on deadline and ensuring all team volunteers are at their assigned rink at their designated time spots. All volunteers report to the teams control assistant when they get to the rink for their shift. No admission is charged at the venue forMac’s volunteers going to their shifts.
· Tentative 2010 deadline for worksheets by the Mac’s Team Rep to Calgary Royals Mac’s Quadrant rep is October 15.
· Participation is mandatory and subject to CRAA’s “No-Show” Policy. We have advised historically for reps and managers to assign positions and leave it up to that particular person to fill their spot if not available or “on holidays”. However it is that assigned persons responsibility to ensure that position is filled and has previously notified the team rep in writing should they not be volunteering directly (similar to bingo policy).
· All our Reps were contacted by phone or e-mail as soon as the Mac’s quadrant rep receives rinks, times and shifts from the tournament committee. These are assigned by the CRAA Mac’s quadrant Rep to each team usually in early December. A few days prior to the Tournament, team volunteers will be reminded to show up for their assignments at the scheduled arena for their scheduled times by their team rep.