Young Canada Week in the 2010s: A Continued Role as a Winter Ritual in a Port Town

Goderich Lions Young Canada Week seemed like a storied institution by the year 2010, maintaining its position as the longest running minor hockey tournament in Canada.

With teams arriving each March Break to compete in an event that blended small-town hospitality with a big-game atmosphere, it continued to be the kind of tournament that players, coaches and fans would long remember.

With the local Lions Club combining with Goderich Minor Hockey to co-host the event, supported by a strong volunteer base and community involvement, Young Canada Week continued its role as a winter ritual in the port town.

The 62nd tournament in 2011 saw the Zorra Fusion win the Don Johnston Trophy in the Girls C Division.

The Listowel Cyclones took the Boys B title by defeating the Goderich Lions and the Tavistock Titans won the C Championship.

The Lucknow Sepoys won D honours while the BCH Icedogs and the Blyth Bulldogs won the AE and LL divisions.

In 2012, emerging as Girls C winners was the TCDMHA (Chatsworth) team with a 2-1 victory over Brussels.

The Blyth-Clinton-Hensall (BCH) squad took the Consolation title by beating Mitchell.

In the B Division, Mitchell defeated Goderich in the final game.

BCH prevailed in C and LL play while Goderich won the AE championship defeating New Hamburg 1-0 in the final.

Dirk Wolterbeek, a member of a family with long connections to YCW, dropped the puck to open the 2013 tournament.

Ilderton won the Girls Division, with Lucan, North Middlesex, Norwich, BCH and Teeswater winning the Boys Divisions.

Goderich won the LL Consolation title.

In 2014, hockey legend Leonard ‘Red’ Kelly and fellow Stanley Cup winner local Larry Jeffrey, along with Joe O’Brien who refereed in the first YCW in 1950, took part in the opening ceremonies.

Twelve girls’ teams and 61 boys’ teams took part in the tournament.

In 2015 a new format was introduced with games on the two weekends of the March Break, with championships decided on each weekend.

Mary Wolterbeek continued the family tradition, dropping the first puck while celebrating 33 years of heading up the feeding of YCW teams.

The Goderich Signal Star staff reporter wrote that a rousing rendition of O Canada was performed to kick off the ceremonies.

Due to a chemical leak at the MRC, all games on the first weekend were played at the Memorial Arena.

At the 67th YCW in 2016, Audrey McCabe, who was the goaltended for Saltford in the first tournament in 1950, was the opening night special guest.

A Toronto Star article at the time of that tournament described her as ‘turning aside shots with he calm assurance of a Turk Broda’.

Another 1950 player, John Buchanan, followed in his brother Fred’s footsteps by being able to watch his grandson take the first face-off as a member of the Goderich Lions team.

Doug Cruickshank, the executive director of the Goderich Flyers Junior C team spoke at the ceremony of how a great many of the junior players had once played in the YCW tournament.

Thirty-six teams competed that year and in a bit of an oddity, the Local League (LL) championship was won by Goderich LL team 1, defeating Goderich LL team 2 in the final.

Grey Highlands won the Girls’ Division, while Hanover, Norwich, and Lambeth were the Boys C, D, and AE winners.

It was becoming more difficult to fill the roster in the peewee divisions, partly because of the amalgamation of minor hockey systems, and in 2017, only 34 teams played in Young Canada Week.

Six girls’ teams were entered and Lucknow-Wingham won.

Ilderton won in a 10-team Boys C Division, Bruce Peninsula topped a four team D Division, and Kincardine won a four-team AE Division.

Seaforth headed a 10-team LL Division.

The year 2018 saw the numbers continue to decline. There was no girls’ division, partly because more tournaments were being set up for girls. There were only 24 teams in three division for boys that year.

BCH won the C Division, TCD took the D/AE Division and Mount Forest won the LL title.

The Goderich Scotiabank team won the consolation championship in LL.

In 2019, the 70th YCW, the serving of meals, a long-standing tradition in the tournament, came to an end, and the executive added Bantam teams to keep the tournament viable.

Goderich Minor Hockey took control of the scheduling, refereeing and time keeping while the Lions Club looked after office duties, fund raising and the chuck-a-puck feature.

Four divisions of play were organized: Rep and LL in the two divisions, peewee and bantam.

Twenty-four teams in total played.

In peewee play, BCH defeated TCD 5-4 to win the Rep Division.

In the LL Division, a team from Australia won. The team known as the Cylcones, and brought here by coach Michael Harrow, won 6-4 over the Goderich Kinsmen team.

The Goderich Scotiabank team won the consolation match over Blyth Brussels.

In bantam play, Goderich won the Rep title, winning 3-2 over Lambton Shores. Mitchell won the LL Division.

In our next column, we’ll see how the COVID-19 pandemic was a positive feature in the survival of Young Canada Week (YCW).

Be sure to check out the YCW 75th Anniversary Facebook page to see all the special features being planned for the tournament in March.