The inaugural edition of the Kevin Kozar Christmas Classic was held this past weekend. The Thunder Bay hockey community came together to celebrate Kevin in the tournament that he loved, with special guests from Fort Frances making the trip to honour one of their own in his adopted home.
Nearly seventy teams took to the ice across five divisions, in what was the biggest edition yet of a tournament that was founded almost twenty years ago, now taking on its new identity in honour of the former longtime President of KC Minor Hockey. Games got underway Thursday morning, and the excitement really ramped up Friday night with the EPIC Shootout, presented by Cwench Hydration. Kevin's wife, Amy, and sons Harry and Miles were on hand as 21 teams battled it out to bring home a beautiful walnut plaque, handcrafted by Louis Pradal & Sons. The Westfort Rangers emerged as champions, and will be the first to have their team added to the new award bearing Kevin's name.
Amy Johnson and Harry Kozar (top right) presented the plaque to the Westfort Rangers
Saturday saw Kevin's hometown Fort Frances Canadians take on his own association's KC Sabres in a U18A matchup, with a ceremonial face-off prior to the game. Some of Kevin's closest friends made the trip from Fort Frances for the occasion, and they were joined by numerous members of his KC family (past and present), and the Thunder Bay hockey community in general, in honouring Kevin's memory. After a moment of silence, Kevin's wife Amy and son Miles dropped the puck between two close friends of the Kozar family, Ben Wielinga (Fort Frances Canadians) and Paul Nixon (KC Sabres).
The weekend concluded with many exciting finishes across the divisions, including a shootout in U15A that went to sudden death! Congratulations again to our Champions:
U11A - KC Bertrand Contracting Knights
U13A - West End Bruins
U15A - Norwest Stars
U18A - Elks 82's
The one remaining thing to say, is perhaps the most important one... THANK YOU!
With nearly 70 teams competing in 5 divisions, the inaugural 2024 Kevin Kozar Christmas Classic has established itself as the largest Christmas tournament in the region. The Executive of KC Minor Hockey is grateful for the response to this event, and we look forward to making it even better next season!
The growth of this year’s tournament would not have been possible without the participation of a small army of people, and we'd like to thank them all:
- First of all, thank you to the Kozar family for their participation through the entire tournament...thank you for helping make this weekend so special.
- KC Minor Hockey coaches and parent volunteers, who assisted us at the arenas throughout the weekend
- Burke Clower, our fantastic MC at the Kevin Kozar EPIC Shootout, Presented by Cwench Hydration
- Pat Galloway and the on-ice officials...thank you for the countless hours you spent on the ice this weekend!
- Danielle Hrubeniuk, and the timekeepers...thank you for overcoming wifi outages and lineup issues to help our first KC Spordle experience run smoothly!
- The arena managers and staff
KC Minor Hockey would like to thank our sponsors that made this weekend possible:
- Performance Kia, for stepping up to sponsor our MVP awards
- Cwench Hydration, for being the presenting sponsor of the EPIC Shootout, and supplying prizes and giveaways for our U9 division
- Thunder Bay Bandits Jr. B Hockey for helping with sound and music for the EPIC Shootout
- Louis Pradal and Sons Contracting for the beautiful walnut plaque for the EPIC Shootout
- Buzzy’s Jersey City, for finishing the EPIC Shootout plaque beautifully, and supplying the pucks for the ceremonial faceoff
Last, but certainly not least...thank you to the players, the coaches, the families, the volunteers...everyone who made the 2024 Kevin Kozar Christmas Classic a success...we can't wait to see you next year!
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