By Martin Cleary
The 2024 Bell Capital Cup was all about the boys this time around.
Once the world’s largest youth hockey tournament with 510 teams and 8,145 players in 2007, the Bell Capital Cup has had a tradition of welcoming boys and girls’ teams from across Canada, the United States and around the globe.
But it didn’t quite happen that way for the 24th edition of the tournament, which ended with division finals at the Bell Sensplex on Dec. 31.
There were no girls’ teams playing for hockey glory in arenas across the city at the recent Bell Capital Cup. Tournament organizers were planning to play host to girls’ teams in the U11 and U13 divisions, but it never materialized.
It’s understandable, however, as girls’ hockey continues to grow and strengthen its identity by staging its own large tournaments in the city.
“There was no girls’ division this year due to a conflict with two other girls’ tournaments in Ottawa in November and January,” the Bell Capital Cup said in an email statement to High Achievers and the Ottawa Sports Pages.
The 41st Kanata Girls’ Hockey Association competitive tournament was played Nov. 15-17 and attracted 100 teams in 15 age and skill divisions from U9 to U18.
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The 43rd Do It For Daron Paint It Purple girls’ hockey tournament, which is staged by the Nepean Girls’ Hockey Association and is now held in memory of Daron Richardson, is scheduled for Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.
Registration remains open for Paint It Purple and it will attract a sizeable crowd of teams for games at the Bell Sensplex, Richcraft Sensplex, Cavanagh Sensplex and other Ottawa arenas. The tournament appears to be another sell-out as each division carries a waitlist label on its website.
The 24th Bell Capital Cup took over the city for the final five days of 2024 for 258 boys’ house league and rep teams (more than 4,000 players). The 600 games were spread over 17 age and skill classes (U10 to U13), including para ice hockey (sledge) and adaptive hockey competitions for players with special needs.
More than 200 Canadian teams participated plus 50 from the United States. The tournament also included teams from Slovenia, Austria, South Korea and Chinese Taipei (two).
The rep AAA and AA teams were guaranteed four games, while the rep A, house league and para ice hockey teams played a minimum of three games each. There were shoot-out challenges after round-robin games.
Players also had an opportunity to attend IIHF world junior hockey championship games and watch various matches between players who are visually challenged, have special needs or are athletes with physical disabilities.
The Bell Capital Cup tournament alumni list is impressive – Connor McDavid, John Tavares, P.K. Subban, Travis Konecny, Mitch Marner and Mark Scheifele.
The Bell Capital Cup saw four Ottawa and area teams win their division championships and eight teams finish as finalists. Four championship games featured a pair of Ottawa and area teams.
American teams won five titles, while international teams emerged with two gold and one silver medals.
Here’s a breakdown of the 17 championship games with final scores and goal scorers:
HOUSE LEAGUE
U11A: Sherbrooke Phoenix 3, West Carleton Warriors 0.
Phoenix: James Esper, Ethian Giguere and Mathieu Bombardier.
U11B: Sherbrooke Phoenix 4, Metcalfe Jets 3.
Phoenix: Emile Boisvert 3, Isaac Goyette;.
Jets: Justin Brittain 2, Kingsley Barakat.
U11C: Oswego Buccaneers – Cummings 8, West Carleton Warriors 0.
Buccaneers: Daniel Mulcahey 3, Tucker Pryor 2, Noah Dawson, Robert Ditmar, Adelaide Sturick.
U13A: Cumberland Canucks-Dukes 4, Carleton Place Kings 1.
Canucks: Aiden Avery 3, James Morrison
Kings: Roman Maillet.
U13B: Oswego Buccaneers – Pecore 2, Stittsville Rams 1.
Buccaneers Lucas Mulcahey, Caiden Tucker.
Rams: Jackson Armstrong.
REP
U10AAA: Philadelphia Little Flyers 7, Westchester Express (Brewster, New York) 3.
Little Flyers: Broll Peyton 2, Dylan Piselli 2, Bodie Melanson, Maxwell Shellenberger, Brooks Hamerski
Express: Hudson Cote, Toi Miyagawa, Brandon McMannon.
U10AA: Sudbury Jr. Wolves 2, Streetsville Tigers 1.
Jr. Wolves: Easton Desjardins, Sonny Larochelle.
Tigers: Max Bravo.
U10A: Osgoode Richmond Royals 3, Stittsville Rams 2, overtime shootout (2-0).
Royals: Hayden Somerville, Ace Decristoforo, Madden Moore (SO), Colton Moreau (SO). Rams: Reese Sabourin, Nico Love.
U11AAA: Valley Jr. Warriors Elite (Haverhill, Massachusetts) 4, Westchester Express 3.
Warriors: Kaiden Foster 2, Wyatt Cronin 2 (final two goals in third period).
Express: Grayson Fix, Chris Stathos, Liam Chung.
U11AA: Gloucester Rangers 8, Greater Bay Lions (Hong Kong) 3.
Rangers: Scott Nyentap 3, Luca Pomoransky 2, Nicholas Abou-Nehme, Kyle Lafleur, Aiden McMahon.
Lions: Henry Jung 2, Lennox Hong.
U11A: Mississippi Thunder Kings 5, Cumberland Grads 1.
Thunder Kings: Emmett Young 2, William Chartrand, Carson Colbourne, Clayton Hewitt.
Grads: Evan MacKay.
U12AAA: Quinte Red Devils 7, Reps Hockey Club (Toronto) 2.
Red Devils: Kade Whelan 3, Noah Gilchrist 2, William Beebe, Evan Andrews.
Reps: Moosa Khan, Sashko Potichnyj.
U12AA: Cumberland Grads 3, Kanata Blazers 2.
Grads: Noah Lebreche, Benjamin McGee, Nolan Stanzell.
Blazers: Alexander Niu, Harrison Mitchell.
U12A: East Nipissing Vipers 5, Kitchener Jr. Rangers 0.
Vipers: Wolf White 2, Jase Gauthier, Griffin Silverthorn, Marshall Brooks.
U13AAA: Kuper Academy (Kirkland, PQ) 4, Philadelphia Little Flyers 3 overtime.
Kuper: Jayden Perkins 2, Shaka Iseghohi, Kai Liu (Iseghohi scored game-winning goal on the powerplay with an assist from Liu).
Little Flyers: Jack Piccolo, Harry Marshall, Tyler Panaro.
U13AA: Karawanken Bears (Austria) 7, Upper Ottawa Valley Aces 1.
Bears: Marvin Kralj 2, Toni Priess 2, Matthias Petodnig 2, Skyler Furey.
Aces: Oliver Roux.
U13A: Gyeonggido Ice Hockey (South Korea) 6, Penetang Flames 1.
Gyeonggido: Gaon Kim 3, Jihoo Lee 2, Minjune Kim.
Flames: Harper Fraser.
PARA ICE (SLEDGE): Ottawa Hawks finished in third place with one tie and three losses. In its final game, the Hawks lost 5-3 to Montreal Rockets and Nathan Sparks scored all three goals in a losing cause.
Hamilton Sledgehammers were first, Montreal took second and Kingston Jr. Knights were fourth.