Summertime in Southern California, where the living is easy and OneHockey is rocking.

The world’s recognized No. 1 hockey tournament group will be celebrating both Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends this year by hosting two spectacular five-game-guaranteed events in its home state. With the abundance of summer fun activities away from the rink that this part of the Golden State offers, OneHockey has already registered dozens of clubs from Canada and Europe as well as across the United States for both holidays, but is still reserving space for local teams as well.

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“Those teams can’t wait to get here,” said Sebastien Fortier, founder and CEO of OneHockey. “Spending a long American holiday weekend along the California coast is a great tradition everybody wants to experience. But we’re also expecting more teams from here in California, Arizona and Colorado to be joining us to make both tournaments a big holiday celebration. We’re going to show all of them what the OneHockey way is all about.”

The OneHockey California Memorial Day Tournament will run May 25-28 and feature players at the Midget (high school varsity and JV), Bantam, Pee Wee, Squirt and Mite (half ice) age groups for the AA and A levels. Pee Wee, Squirt and Mite divisions are also being formed at the B level.

Just six weeks later, the OneHockey California Fourth of July event will take place the weekend after Independence Day, July 6-8. This tourney is geared for AAA and AA squads at the 16U (2002-03) through the 2009 age groups.

Both OneHockey extravaganzas will be mainly based at the popular Icetown Rink in Riverside, while some games are likely to be scheduled at its sister facility in Carlsbad. The Icetown Rink in both communities are year-round arenas owned and operated by the NHL’s L.A. Kings and offer everything from youth and adult hockey to figure skating, sled hockey and broomball. Players from Southern California as well as the southwest corner of the country are certainly familiar with both twin-sheet locations.

Fortier is even offering teams the opportunity to request to play all or some of their games at the Carlsbad Icetown in order to be closer to the incredible beaches of southern California. In fact, the entire region surrounding both rinks is renowned for its waterfront as much as it is its scenic, recreational and cultural attractions.

“We’ve waited a long time to break into California, so we want to make sure all our families have time to explore this incredible part of the country,” said Fortier, the Laguna Hills resident who started OneHockey in 2003. “That’s why we’re going to be holding tournaments in California pretty much every holiday weekend.”

OneHockey was initially established as a spring and summer tournament company focusing on the finest competition and in-game entertainment, but Fortier now runs the 25-plus international events organization year-round from his home office. Not only does the former Montreal Canadiens prospect organize and operate tourneys across the USA each year, he has even hosted several OneHockey events in his native Canada as well as in Europe. This August, Fortier has also arranged for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in Moscow thanks to a new partnership with Vladislav Tretiak, current president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and the former legendary goaltender of the Soviet Red Army national squad.

“The OneHockey Experience is spanning the globe now,” Fortier said. “The way we spoil our players and families with a festive atmosphere at so many destination places is a secret no more.”

Besides providing the most entertaining events the industry has to offer, OneHockey intends to make history next Christmas school vacation as Fortier’s group embarks on setting a Guinness World Record for hosting the largest tournament ever. OneHockey is partnering with the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association to hold the biggest tourney the sport has ever seen during the Holiday Invite 2018, which will be scattered at arenas across the Great Lakes State.

Any California or southwest youth hockey programs interested in being part of this world-record hockey happening should register now at www.onehockey.com.

— Kevin Conway

(April 16, 2018)