Late season hockey tournament provides economic boost to Penticton

PENTICTON – The organizers of a recent hockey tournament in Penticton say it is providing an ever-increasing economic boost to the city.

The 2017 Canadian Sport School Hockey League championship from March 13 to 19 in Penticton generated $2.89 million in economic activity, according to a media release from the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.

The economic impact stems from out of town visitors and participants expenditures, as many families attended the event, the league says. Operational expenses associated with hosting the event were also included.

Chief operating officer Kevin Goodwin says the league was allowed access to Travel Penticton’s Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model.

“It’s software that allows you to enter your province, then parameters of the event such as participants, duration of the event, number of spectators, money we spent in the community including such things as apparel and awards purchasing, and it gives you an estimate of return,” Goodwin says.

He says the organization’s attendance figures only included paid attendance.

This year’s event ran for two days longer than last year’s championships, with 150 more student athletes participating. The total number of staff and athletes was 1,078 with paid attendance up 20 per cent over last year.

Teams from as far away as Saskatchewan and Manitoba competed for the first time, bumping up the number of participants travelling more than 320 km to 88 per cent.

Forty-one of the 49 teams involved in the competition required accommodations, up from 31 last year, and 12 more on-ice officials were brought in from other regions to assist in officiating, due to the 37 per cent increase in games this year.

“We’re excited. The league has exploded in the past few years. Ultimately, we think it is the perfect fit for Penticton. It’s got four rinks right here in the city and rinks close by in Summerland and Oliver which are close and allow us to expand out our games,” Goodwin says.

“We’re going to be here until 2020 for sure, and my plan is to keep it here all the time."

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.