Outdoor high school hockey game kicks off Brockville Winter Classic

Brockville's St. Mary's Crusaders hosted the Trinity College Bears from Port Hope for an exhibition game in the first ever Winter Classic School Cup. Feb. 14, 2023. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

After a two-year delay, the Brockville Winter Classic returns this weekend at Rotary Park, with a Tuesday outdoor game between high schools kicking off the event.

Brockville's St. Mary's Crusaders hosted the Trinity College Bears from Port Hope for an exhibition game in the first ever Winter Classic School Cup.

"This is the first time this is happening, so it's kind of grown into a festival and we kind of want to extend it," said Winter Classic committee member Ryan Billing. "We thought, what's not better than to get a school involved, so this is really cool, a neat experience for our 14- to 16-year-olds to have an opportunity to play an outdoor game."

St. Mary's coach Brian Drake noted the goal was to have two local teams compete, but schedules did not line up, so they invited the Port Hope club.

"This is starting small with two teams playing one game. Ideally down the road in four or five years, we'd love to make it a full day event with three or four teams, getting students out, parents, families out to make it a full community event, bringing funds and donations into the cause here," he said.

The Crusaders finished 5-0 during the high school hockey season, and are heading into the playoffs next week.

"It's all about getting the students a special memory and that unique experience of playing outdoors and having fun in these exhibition style games and making connections and hopefully friendships that will last years down the road," Drake added.

"We have a big trophy for them, we are hoping it grows into something," said Billing.

The Brockville Winter Classic began in 2015 as a fundraiser to help complete a roof over the outdoor rink at Rotary Park. It has grown every year, hosting six different NHL alumni teams in that span.

Other outdoor games are scheduled throughout this week, culminating with the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni team playing on Saturday on the outdoor rink, and Sunday at the Brockville Memorial Centre against the Tim Hortons All Stars.

Notable Leafs players include Todd Gill, Al Iafrate, Gary Leeman, Brad May and Trevor Kidd.

"We have a gala event on the Saturday evening, also a breakfast Sunday morning where you can meet and greet with the players as well," added Billing, who thanked all the corporate sponsors for this year's event.

"Our corporate challenge is unbelievable. I think they love it because they can actually send a team to the game," he said. "As a result, our alumni game is probably about 90 per cent kids, which is great energy in the building. Our corporate sponsors, they've been fabulous during this."

All proceeds from ticket sales go right back into Rotary Park, for site improvements and possible expansion.

"We're just a group of individuals wanting to support this park. We have an envision, we're doing some finishing touches to the rink, we're putting in a scoreboard, we're doing some extension to the roof, putting in some seating and sound and audio, so this could be a 365-day use facility," noted Billing "I'm thinking concerts, community markets, that kind of idea. So we're hoping that we put this infrastructure into Rotary Park and it will be used for a variety of reasons."

Brockville Winter Classic tickets are $25 for adults and $5 for children and can be bought through their website.