Winterland Invitational expects 48 teams for annual fundraiser tournament

The Winter Invitational 2023 is coming back, with the most participants the Lakeland has seen yet. 

Forty-eight U9, U11, and U13 teams will play in a hockey tournament in support of the Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

The venues include the Bonnyville Centennial Centre, Cold Lake Energy Centre, A.G Ross Arena, and the Glendon Arena. 

The days will be packed from Feb. 17-19 as 86 games will be played over the three days with over 750 participants.

“This tournament has seen such amazing success, we have raised over $750,000 throughout the six years, and just building awareness within these small athletes, teaching them about philanthropy,” Oreen Skiba, Provincial Events Senior Manager.

The Energy Centre is a new venue in this tournament, letting more hockey teams participate this year. 

U9 will be playing in the A.G Ross Arena and the U11 and U13 will be split between the Energy Centre and the Bonnyville Centennial Centre. 

The event is in search of over 100 volunteers over the course of three days, specifically announcers, if you or someone you know is interested you can contact Oreen Skiba at oskiba@rmhcalberta.org.

“This event does take an army of kindness, we are looking for a lot of volunteers, and we are looking for announcers for over the three days,” said Skiba. 

There is a team challenge component in the tournament in which young athletes are still fundraising for the Ronald McDonald’s houses. 

The money raised from this tournament will be split amongst the four Ronald McDonald houses in Alberta in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer.  

“The houses are in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Medicine Hat, but it is our neighbors, friends and coworkers who are accessing them. In 2021, RMHC Alberta supported families from over 200 communities and at least three families checked into one of our Houses every day,” said Skiba.

The money will contribute to everything the houses provide such as the shuttle use, volunteers that provide meals, and recreational activities for siblings and family in the houses. 

The tournament will also have 50/50 sales and an online auction that you can participate in. 

At RMHC Alberta in four houses across the province in 2021, they served over 1,000 families, 40 of which came from the Lakeland.

“That is 1,000 families who got to stay near their sick children and have some semblance of normalcy. That is 1000 families that got to read bedtime stories and have good night hugs,” said Skiba.

“We had 70,000 meals prepared or delivered, that is meals for our outpatients, along with siblings and caregivers who we know are making life-changing decisions in the hospital and can’t be doing it on vending machine snacks. We had 9624 shuttle trips, that is 9000 times someone didn’t have to stress about finding and paying for parking in the hospital.”

The Town of Bonnyville is one of a few municipalities who have approved sponsorship dollars, this one a $8,000 sponsorship towards the cost of running this event.

“It is a really important event that is hosted here in the Lakeland, it started here in the Town of the Bonnyville with I believe 16 teams and has grown substantially since then, with now 48 teams which is so large it has expanded to Cold Lake, Elk Point, and Glendon,” said Elisa Brosseau, Mayor of the Town of Bonnyville.

“We have always supported this tournament, The Ronald McDonald house has supported people here in the Lakeland and so its important we help support it financially.”