When the Prince Albert Grand Council mapped out their schedules for their first annual winter festival, they wanted to make sure that there was an athletic element to the week.
As such, the PAGC Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Cup took place over the weekend at Carlton while the PAGC Youth Hockey Cup is being held this week at the Kinsmen and Crescent Heights Arenas.
“Our leadership group wanted to have a few events to get the week rolling, and both of these tournaments worked out great for us,” PAGC sports, culture and recreation coordinator Korey Diehl said.
“The social aspect of the tournaments is the biggest thing for else as it allows people from other communities to meet and build friendships with one another. We hope that we can partner up with the Prince Albert Winter Festival down the road and we grow together.”
A six-team female volleyball tournament and a 12-team men’s event were held at Carlton on Saturday and Sunday and featured squads from across the province, along with a men’s team that came from Edmonton.
“This is an event we feel that can grow in the future,” Diehl said. “We have a great facility here at Carlton and we can put everything in one roof. The word has started to spread around and we should have some more teams next year.”
The Youth Hockey Cup began Monday with 35 teams competing in atom, pee wee, midget and bantam tournaments.
“This is our third year doing the tournament and it’s been great for us to integrate with the Winter Festival,” Diehl said.
“There’s teams from all over Saskatchewan here and we even have teams from Manitoba that came for the week. Many of these teams play in the treaty tournament in Saskatoon later in the season, so it’s a good warm-up for them and gives them something to look forward to while they are on their break out of school.”
The atom and pee tournaments will conclude Tuesday, while the bantam and midget tournaments will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
Games will be held at the Kinsmen and Crescent Heights Arenas from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.
