Lots in store for the 25th anniversary of the Bell Capital Cup

The Bell Capital Cup is celebrating its 25th anniversary in style. We've got all the details for the big year.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Bell Capital Cup in Ottawa.

The annual tournament sees hundreds of teams and thousands of players from around the world come to Ottawa to compete. Players from AAA leagues to house leagues take part.

To mark the silver jubilee of the tournament, organizers are planning some special events.

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Bell Capital Cup General Manager Mark Sluban told CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Wednesday that one of the big things this year is honouring some of the greatest players who once took part.

“We’re starting off with going online and having a 25th anniversary all-star team. We want everyone to go online and vote for your favourite NHL stars that have played through the tournament,” he said.

“Last night, you might have seen guys like Connor McDavid and Shane Pinto and Nick Cousins—they all played in this tournament back in the day. A handful of them had won the championship themselves, and we want to know who’s going to be named the all-star team.”

You can vote at bellcapitalcup.ca until Dec. 14.

The names of the all-star team will be announced at the Bell Capital Cup opening ceremonies on Dec. 28.

“At our opening ceremonies, we’ll have a couple thousand people from around the world take part,” said Sluban. “And we have lots of activities there and HockeyFest. It’s a huge party on and off the ice.”

Cwench Hydration HockeyFest takes place Dec. 28 and 29 in the Gifford Carr Field House at the Bell Sensplex. It features watch parties, an inflatable obstacle course, bouncy slides, and the longstanding pin-trading tradition.

Sluban says as of Tuesday, 272 teams had already registered for the tournament.

“We’ll have around 300 (teams) at the end of the day. We have a few spots left. All of our AAA, AA, A, B-teams, house leagues, sledge hockey… 19 different divisions. It’s a massive tournament.”

Teams are coming not only from Canada and the U.S., but from Hong Kong, Austria, Japan, Korea and Kazakhstan, as well. The 25th Bell Capital Cup will see the return of championship games at Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators.

Sluban says there is also a special gift for local teams.

“The first hundred local teams, and we’re almost there, Bell has offered 20 tickets, complimentary, to an Ottawa Senators game, there’s a few different options that they have… That alone, when you look at the registration fee, that’s pretty sweet.”

The Bell Capital Cup runs from Dec. 28 to 31.

More details, including registration fees, schedules, and rules, can be found at bellcapitalcup.ca.

Bell is the parent company of CTV Your Morning Ottawa and CTV News Ottawa.