Cabrini Cup: Bean Bags for Minor Hockey in Mallaig

It’s going be a fun Saturday in Mallaig this weekend! Mallaig Minor Hockey Club is hosting their third annual Cabrini Cup. The charity tournament is looking for teams to make the event the largest ever.

Benefits the rink and kids

The bean bag tournament started as an extra way to raise funds for Mallaig Minor Hockey Club. The locals who run the yearly car show came to the club with the opportunity to fund raise during the annual event. All funds raised go towards maintaining the Mallaig Arena. Other parts of the funds go towards keeping registration fees low for minor hockey players. The tournament has raised around $20,000 for the club in two years.

The place to be

It’s a whole hamlet affair during this upcoming weekend in Mallaig. The Mallaig Recreation Board will be serving food and beverages for people who come out. The Car and Tractor show will start in the morning, and have a parade around town at 10 a.m. on Saturday. At 11 a.m. it will be onto the Cabrini Cup. The bean bag games will run until 4 p.m. Teams of two kids can enter the tournament for $20, while adults can enter a team of two for $50. There will also be plenty of entertainment for the kids, and adults. Beer gardens will be available for adults on site, and bouncy castles will be on the grounds for kids to play in.

Volunteers and registration

The economy is taking it’s toll everywhere still. Mallaig is no exception. The past few years have seen registration on the decline for the Mallaig Minor Hockey Club. At the same time, the cost of operating the rink hasn’t gotten cheaper. Pete Bissell, President of Mallaig Minor Hockey Club, notes a good chunk of kids playing for the various levels come from Goodfish Lake.

“We try to build a culture of development, winning, and fun. Not necessarily in that order. With as little funds, and all our coaches have paid for their own coaching seminars. They have forked that money over themselves, they don’t ask Minor Hockey to pay for it. Players who get out to hockey schools, it’s all parents who have taken them somewhere else to do it. We’re losing numbers based on the amount of volunteering parents have to do in our town as compared to other towns.” Bissell says, “A lot of parents are taking there kids out of hockey not because of cost, but because of the time it takes to bring their kid to the rink, and what they have to do at the rink.”

More information

You can register a team for the bean bag tournament by calling Jaime at 780-210-7546. Winners of the tournament will take home an NHL replica trophy.