Upcoming Silver Stick hockey tournaments in Lambton County are expected to generate upwards of $6-million for the local economy.
The Watford Regional boys U13 and U15 tournament, is on from December 8 to 18, and local hotels, stores and restaurants will be busy.
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton Sports Marketing Coordinator Vicky Praill said a total of over 300 teams are expected to participate in the eight local competitions.
"That amounts to over 15,000 people with teams and parents and grandparents and siblings that are coming to Lambton County during that time period," said Praill. "They're coming from Texas, Florida, Quebec, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, all over the place. All of these teams that are here, they're here for two to four days. They're staying in our hotels, they're eating breakfast, lunch and supper, they're filling up their gas tanks, they're going to the local bowling alley or theatre. They're spending quite a bit of money here."
Praill is confident there is enough space to accommodate everyone. They make use of hotels within a 100 kilometre radius, and have some Air BnBs booked as well.
She said the tournaments wouldn't be possible without help from hundreds of volunteers.
"We have people that are, obviously, at the rink all day and all night helping the teams get in and out and get ready for their games," she said. "We have referees, we have organizing committees from all of the different Silver Stick organizations and events. So, there are lots of volunteers that are spending countless hours either before, during or after the event making this possible for our community."
Other tournaments include the Alvinston U11 regionals (December 27 to 30), Petrolia U18 regionals (December 27 to 30), Mooretown U21 finals (January 5 to 8), Sarnia women's finals (January 6 to 8), Sarnia boys U11 and U18 finals (January 13 to 15), and the Forest U11 and U13 finals (January 20 to 22).
A U15 event was also held in November in Lambton Shores.
Further information can be found at www.ontbluecoast.com/events/
