“Huge,” said Rob Fryer, a tournament director. “It would be the biggest tournament we’ve had combined. It’ll be quite large.”
Overseas representation is returning to the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament (KIBIHT) in 2023.
Rob Fryer, who is among tournament directors, told KTW an under-15 club from Romania, recruited by Bob Dever, will be among the sizeable field of teams — 56 of them if all goes to plan.
“Huge,” Fryer said. “It would be the biggest tournament we’ve had combined. It’ll be quite large.”
The last time a non-U.S. international team competed at KIBIHT was in 2017, when an Italian team competed in the tier 1 division.
In 2016, a Hungarian squad rolled into town and produced an unforgettable moment, with 15-year-old Laszlo Horvath stepping in to sing his country’s anthem when the public-address system went wonky. Laszlo’s rendition of the song went viral.
The Romanian entry is putting the “international” back in KIBIHT, which will run from Friday, Dec. 15, to Tuesday, Dec. 19, at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre, Valleyview Arena, Brock Arena, Sandman Centre and Memorial Arena.
“It adds to the prestige and it definitely brings in other teams when they see that, “Oh, they’re serious about this tournament. It’s not just another tournament,’” Fryer said. “We’re pretty excited about that.”
The plan is to have three 16-team divisions — U15 AA Tier 1 Randy Lindros, U15 A Tier 2 Founders and U15 A Tier 3 — and an eight-team U15 Female A division.
Fryer, who noted the tier 3 division may not achieve its 16-team maximum, is confident the female division will reach capacity.
“We brought in the U18 females quite a number of years ago and, in all honesty, it wasn’t very successful,” Fryer said. “But there is an appetite for the U15 females this year and we want to try and include them in the program. They’re going to be a big part of it this year.”
This year’s tourney will run during the same week as the December 2022 event, a pre-Christmas offering.
“A lot of the feedback we got was people want to be home at Christmas time and didn’t want to have to rush out the door for a Christmas tournament,” Fryer said, noting organizers are searching for volunteers and future board members.
“The feedback we got last year was to keep the dates. That’s what we’ve done. Registration is open and we’re getting a lot of teams in.”
The Thompson Blazers are expected to compete in the tier 1 division and Kamloops representatives will be in action in each of the other three divisions, Fryer said.
“We’re always trying to think of innovative ways and make it fun,” he said. “A lot of it is nostalgia. We have a lot of people who played in the tournament and they want their boys to play in it, as well, because they had a good experience. We want to keep the tournament going.”
