Police hockey tournament returns to Waterloo Region following pandemic pause

The 60th anniversary of the International Police Hockey Tournament has made its long-awaited return to the ice in Waterloo Region, following a pandemic absence that’s kept officers in uniform instead of lacing up the skates.

On Friday, the two-day tournament came to a close, crowning champions across 14 divisions involving 100 teams from across Ontario and the U.S.

“It’s fantastic. It really is. The excitement of everybody is really unbelievable,” said Mark Egers, the president of the Waterloo Regional Police Association (WRPA). “This is a time we can all come together for our community. There [are] over 1,400 peace officers and civilians that come into our region for basically two and a half days.”

The WRPA along with the Waterloo Regional Police Service host the event in partnership with sponsors.

The last time the event hit the ice was in 2019 when Ottawa hosted 105 teams and raised roughly $30,000. Egers says they’re hoping to top that total, aiming for $35,000 in support of Grand River Hospital Pediatric Cancer Care and Kidsability.

Natalie Schill is a development officer of community engagement with the children’s support group and says the proceeds from the tournament will help benefit the roughly 14,000 children benefiting from programming in Waterloo-Wellington.

“It’ll help with early-on speech therapy, or physical therapy,” said Schill. “When their child is coming into Kidsability, they know the care that they’re getting. They know the services that they’re getting, and their children are excited to be there.”

FUN & GAMES

It’s not all fun and games on the ice.

The tournament may be for charity, but the competitive spirit is plain to see for the players on the ice looking to grind out a win.

“It’s still hockey so there is a respect there, but sometimes the hockey mind takes over a little bit,” said Egers.

Heather Burgess backstops the Waterloo women’s team. Despite a late push, the team wasn’t able to get a late goal to equalize against the team from London in an at-times tense contest.

“They still got the goose egg,” said Burgess.

When the buzzer sounds, the teams not hesitating to line up at centre ice for the ceremonial line of handshakes.

“It’s nice having a bunch of people out here that we got to work every day [with for] 12-hour long shifts then we come out here and just have a great time,” said Burgess. “Play hard and work hard. It’s a lot of fun.”

Jesse Hancock and his South Simcoe Police Service men’s squad coming out on the wrong end of an 8-2 decision but were still in good spirits at the end of the game.

“Yeah, hot loss for the boys, but we had a great time coming out. It’s nice to get everyone playing hockey so we had a good time with it,” said Hancock. “Honestly, you can’t beat hockey with the guys, especially guys you work with.”

Amanda Reid with the Hamilton Police Service has been attending the tournament for more than a decade.

“I’ve been coming to this, I think for 15 years now, and I obviously enjoy it,” said Reid. “A lot of it is you get to spend time with your co-workers off the job, which is nice. It’s relaxing — for once!”

TOURNAMENT RETURNS

Organizers aimed to bring back the tournament in November, but there wasn’t enough ice time in order to accommodate the more than 1,000 players taking part.

Egers says the response to the tournament’s return has been fantastic.

“We’re people’s neighbours, we’re their coaches, we’re their volunteers so, everyone is really excited this year like I’ve never seen before,” said Egers.

Next year, the tournament returns to the ice in Kingston.