Richmond International Midget hockey tournament
The Richmond International Midget Hockey Tournament is one of the largest tournaments held in North America. This tournament is an ice hockey tournament held annually for midget aged players in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The Tournament is held at the two Richmond arenas under the auspices of Richmond Minor Hockey Association and is sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The tournament gets underway every year starting on Boxing Day, and concludes on New Year's Eve, with the Elite Division and AAA Division Championship games being played at Minoru Arena. The tournament features 60 teams and approximately  170 games with more than eleven hundred participants, aged 15 – 18, from across Canada, the United States and Europe. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five (5) games with 3 - 20 minute stop time periods. All proceeds from this Tournament go directly to the Richmond Minor Midget Hockey Scholarship Program. We do not charge an entrance fee, so we ask that spectators support our 50/50 draws, raffle and program sales. In 2008, the AAA Gold final game proved to be one of the highlights of the tournament, seeing the two local teams from Richmond BC, Richmond Minor Hockey  Associations and Seafair Minor Hockey Association, playing off against each other for the title. The AAA Gold game was played before a sold out crowd of more than 1600 fans that left standing room only at the Minoru Arena. The Seafair Islanders won the Championship 5-2. In 2008, the British Columbia Junior Hockey League joined as a sponsor of the tournament. The BCHL schedules a regular league game to be played during our tournament. The inaugural game featured the Surrey Eagles and the Powell River Kings. This Junior A game was a big hit with the players of our  tournament as the two teams played to a crowd of more than 1300 fans. The game was played in true Junior A fashion, with end to end action. overtime and all. Tournament History. The tournament began in 1980 as a B tournament with 10 teams participating. In 1992, after the completion of the Richmond Ice Centre, the tournament expanded the B division to a AA/B division with 20 participating teams and added the AAA division with 20 participating teams. In 2004, the Elite AAA division was added and the tournament size grew again with a total of 60 teams  participating in all three divisions. Past champions. Elite AAA Division. This division was added in 2004. Midget AAA. This division was added in 1992.