SOR URA Re Fleet

NEWS photo Mike Wekeficid

HOCKEY HALL of Fame member Fred Pace, of North Vancouver,
holds the distintion of having an elite midget triple-A tourna-
ment named in his honor. Play begins today at the Winter Club.

Winter Club plays
host to tournament

IF YOU ask Bob Blades at the
North Shore Winter Club who
Fred Page is, he'll reply he’s
that “well-known hockey guy.”

By Richard Ostler
Contributing Writer

Page, a man credited with a life-
long commitment to minor hockey,
has one of the Winter Club’s
longest-running tournaments named
after him.

The puck drops on the 33rd
annual Fred Page Midget AAA
Hockey Tournament at 8 a.m. this
morning. The host North Shore
Winter Club will be going head-to-
head with Ridge Meadows in the
opening game. Round-robin action
continues through Friday morning,
with playoff games scheduled for
Friday afternoon and Saturday. The
tournament final takes place on
Saturday at 3 p.m.

Nine teams have been invited for
the four-day round-robin: seven
from the Lower Mainland and teams
from Vernon and Victoria.

The team to beat is two-time
tournament champs Vernon.

The man who has helped make
junior hockey a reality in Canada
started playing hockey in the carly
1940s in Ontario. Since then Page
has bcen involved in the B.C. Junior
Hockey League as a coach, execu-
tive, president, chairman and above
all else, a hockey fan.

in 1993, he was inducted to the
Hockey Hall of Fame for his dedica-
lion building hockey in Canaca and
abroad.

Although the North Shore Winter
Club has been struggling in recent
years because of poor membership
and financial problems, Page is opti-
mistic about this year’s tournament.

“They used to have dandy tour-
naments,” Page said. “They had

some tough times, but the member-
ship has come back up again.”

Three years ago, the club was
unable to support a midget team.
This year the club has two teams, of
which one will compete in the tour-
nament.

Page suid he is honored to have
the tournament named after him and

he is looking forward to watching’

some great hockey.

“Kids go out and iry their best,”
he said. “It's amazing how well they
play. Anyone that sees it will enjoy
it”

Biades, one of the tournament
organizers, said this will be high-
calibre hockey.

“There will be lots of scouts,
mainly from tie Western Hockey
League,” he said. “(The WHL) is the
best junior hockey league around.”

The big battle, according to
Blades, will be the game between
North Vancouver and the North
Shore Winter Ciub.

“There's a big rivalry between
these two teams,” he said. “It's for
bragging rights oa the North Shore.”

The North Shore Winter Club is
located at 1325 E. Keith Rd.. North
Vancouver.

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