The 2020 Casey’s Memorial Cup three-on-three cross-ice charity ice hockey tournament is scheduled to face off April 11 at 7 a.m. at Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena in Irvine.

This will be the second consecutive year the event has been held at the 280,000 square-foot facility.

The tournament honors the memory of Casey Strale, an avid ice and roller hockey player and fan who passed away in June 2013 from a rare form of cancer at the age of 16.

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The single-day event serves to raise funds for cancer research, treatment and quality of life. Proceeds benefit adrenocortical cancer research and clinical trials at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (Tgen) in Phoenix, Ariz., an affiliate of City of Hope.

Casey lost his battle to this rare and devastating disease of the adrenal cortex that affects only one to two individuals in a million.

Seventy-two teams of all ages, including four teams from the San Diego Ducks Sled Hockey program that will be competing. This year’s event will also feature the return of the Alumni Division, featuring former NHL players.

The tournament features a round-robin format, and the team with most points wins.

The sled hockey division is a new skate category for players who do not have use of their legs.

“The concept is really garnering a lot of interest within the hockey community and the sled players are excited to showcase their action in this type of event,” said Chris Strale, founder of the Casey Strale Foundation along with his wife Traci.

The Casey Strale Foundation has raised more than $250,000 since the tournament’s inception in 2015.

Casey’s memory is also honored by the Give Blood Play Hockey inline hockey charity tournament in the fall held at The Rinks-Irvine Inline where one of the rinks is named in his honor.

Casey’s Memorial Cup and The Casey Strale Foundation are both on Facebook.

Donations for cancer research can be made at http://tgen.org/caseystrale.

— Phillip Brents

(March 18, 2020)