Despite a snowy weekend, the Drumheller Memorial Arena was packed for one of Minor Hockey’s most important annual tournaments.
The Encana Atom Raptors were in action all weekend at the Drumheller Memorial Arena in the annual Charmont Memorial Tournament. Teams across the province braved the weather to participate. The Raptors had a strong showing and came away in second place overall.
Over the weekend of November 16, teams from all over the province participated in the Charmont Memorial Tournament.
“It went really well. The kids have had a lot of games so far this season, but they played hard here. They seemed to get stronger as the tournament went on,” said Encana Atom Raptors head coach Jeff Paarup. “Our regular season starts next weekend, so it was a good way to fire up the kids.”
The Raptors racked up win after win and ended up in a showdown with Medicine Hat the in championship game. Despite battling hard, the Raptors fell behind 5-3 and received second place overall in the tournament.
The tournament was created in memory of Chris and his son John Charmont who were killed in an explosion at a resort hotel in Mexico in November 2010. Chris helped coach and manage minor hockey teams and John was an Atom player when he passed away.
Each year since, Drumheller Minor Hockey has held the tournament to remember the Charmonts.
“It’s a good way to bring back their memories and we’re very proud to represent Drumheller in the tournament,” said Paarup.
The current roster of the Encana Raptors were too young to have played with John, but coaches who knew him and his dad Chris told the team the true significance of the tournament.
“We told the story to the kids on the final day that John’s nickname was Moose, because he was such a hardworking kid and never took a shift off,” said Paarup. “The kids really took it to heart.”
Paarup credited the many volunteers for making the tournament a success.
