Mac's AAA midget hockey tournament

The Mac's World Invitational AAA Midget Hockey Tournament is a prestigious ice hockey tournament held annually for midget aged players in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. First held in 1978 as the CP Challenge Cup, the tournament features 25 male and 12 female teams from across Canada, the United States and Europe.

In 2007, Russia Severstal captured the male title, while the Swift Current Wildcats won the female championship.

The Mac's tourney is held every year beginning on Boxing Day, and concluding with the male bronze and gold medal games on New Years Day at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The championship game has been held in front of as many as 10,000 spectators, while tournament games see as many as 3,000 fans per game, the largest crowds many of the players will have played in front of at that point of their careers. Overall, the tournament draws as many as 130,000 spectators over seven days.

Match games are played at several Calgary arenas with the Max Bell Centre being the primary facility. Games are also held at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, and Centennial Arena.

Many participants of the Mac's tourney have gone on to play in the National Hockey League. These players are recognized by Mac's tourney officials by having their photos added to the tournaments wall of fame at the Max Bell Centre.

On January 2, 1989, Petr Nedved, playing for a Litvinov based team, left his hotel room in the middle of the night and walked into a Calgary police station declaring his intention to defect from Czechoslovakia.

Tournament format

The Mac's tourney is broken into five pools of five teams in the male division, and three pools of four teams in the female division. Teams face each of their opponents in their pool in a round robin format before moving to a single elimination knockout format to determine a champion. In the male division, each pool winner, plus three wild cards advance to the quarter-finals. In the female division, each pool winner plus one wild card advances to the semi-finals.

Each pool is "hosted" by a Calgary area team. All five male teams - the Calgary Flames, Royals, Northstars and Buffaloes, as well as the Strathmore UFA Bisons play league games in the Alberta Midget Hockey League. The three female hosts were the Calgary Bruins, Chaos and Flyers. The remaining teams are invited to participate from midget leagues across Canada, the United States and Europe for a total of 37 participants.

Champions

Male division

Female division

The female division was added in 2004.

*2007: Swift Current Wildcats
*2006: Notre Dame Hounds
*2005: Notre Dame Hounds
*2004: Notre Dame Hounds

Wall of Fame

The following is a partial list of Mac's tourney alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL.

References

* [http://www.macstournament.ab.ca/tournament_1.html Official website]
*2006 Mac's Tourney program
*"The Breakaway" - the Mac's Tourney official game sheet