About The Tournament

History:
The International ATC Hockey Tournament, The Early Years
By Bruce Munroe

The idea for this tournament was born in the late 60's and early 70's. A friendly rivalry between members of Boston and Montreal Centers in baseball, golf and hockey turned into the first International ATC HockeyTournament in Nashua, NH, home of the Boston Center. They invited teams from New York, Chicago, Montreal, Moncton and Gander. The hangouts were the Legion, the Thunderbird Club in Lowell, Mass. and of course the halls of the Holiday Inn where a new sport was invented, "Newfy Races", our version of streaking. The Gander team flew to Moncton to join the Moncton team for a 12 hour bus ride. Four year old Jimmy Desmond became the mascot for the Moncton team. The FAA flag disappeared from the center and then disappeared from the room of the culprits.

An awards banquet was held on the last evening and it was announced that Moncton who arrived with lots of support from city council would be the next host. Where is this place called Moncton. Keddys Hotel was home for 1973. New teams were added. This was the first year for Steve McGreevy Sr.and the Waz. Boston came in a motorhome with a roof high enough for people to remove banners from streets. Newfy races were more organized with outside guests as spectators and our first major race injury was a dislocated shoulder.

In 1974 Montreal hosted. Newfy Races went outdoors including one heat from the International Hotel to the Holiday Inn(approx. a mile along the #2 highway). In 1975 we went to Aurora ,Illinois, home of Chicago Center. The highlights were a night at the Elks Club, a girl named Tex, the Odd Couple and Waz playing pool on the Mezz of the hotel, sans duds. The tournament patch was introduced and receiving one each year has become a tradition. In 1976 we desceded upon Gander Newfoundland where we took over several parts of town including the Curling Club which stayed open 24 hours a day. People to remember, Jennifer and Jessica. Remember the river boat filled with beer.

1977 was the year of the Apple (Big). NY hosted on Long Island at the Kings Grant Hotel and we played in the Islanders practice rink. Eddie Westphal and boys made us feel welcome. Trips to Manhattan in the daytime to watch Waz troll for muggers with $100 bills hanging from his Foster Grants and the best of 42nd St. warmed us up for a night at the Playboy Club where they fed and entertained us. There was a charity game between the NY city cops and a team made up of reps from each of our teams. The cops (32 and 0) wanted to play contact. Our guys didnt as they had all played that day and some had never played contact before. The first defence pairing for our guys was Ted Northcott and Pat "Elbows" Penny from the Gander Flyers senior team. A cop on the first rush into our end ended up on the wrong end of Ted's hip. That set the tone for the game.

When the dust settled the cops were 32 and 1.

Toronto for 1978. The Skyline Hotel with the "No Jeans" rule in the front bar hosted us. Clarkie fixed that. He took off his jeans, folded them and put them on the bar. Quote from the bartender,"Okay, one beer, then you're outta here". Quite a few went to see the Maple Leafs and the Flyers. A very successful benefit game in support of the Sick Kids Hospital between our guys and the Maple Leaf Oldtimers. 1979. Lookout Mary Tyler Moore, we're coming to town. Our first of 3 trips to the Twin Cities. They had a great hospitality room with too many kegs. Two new games were invented, "Drop The Empty Keg Out The Window IntoThe Alley Below", and "See How Long You Can Hold Your Mouth Under The Tap Without Spilling Any Beer". We found a new police weapon too-mace. The Red Wings played the North Stars and we made the score board in the Met Center.

Ottawa in 1980. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in the Market and Bare Fax was out the back door. International Hide and Seek was invented. The tenth tournament was back in Nashua in 1981. The castle was the poshest hotel yet, too good for us. The first night we all got a candy on our pillow and the next night we got a letter talking about alternate ccommodation. The people who had been to all 10 tournaments received medals. Rodney Ramjet did Dangerous Dan while we waited for the lovely performers.

Ronnie Reagan did his thing before we could return to Moncton for the 11th.

Chapter 2

Halifax 1984. Around 50 people arrived in Halifax for the rebirth. Montreal, Gander, a group from Ottawa who drove a motorhome in a snow storm and Halifax were the teams. Charlie Carpenter. who had been fired in 1981 and was teaching in London, England and the Waz brought the the US colours.

Some people played for 2 teams as we didnt have enough players. A vanload of beer-packing participants drove in another snow storm to visit Bruces family for an afternoon. Corned Beef and Cabbage was served at the banquet(typical Maritime fare). We didn't have any trophies as they were with the last winners. Sam Moon played nets for Gander and he and Dana have been fixtures ever since.

End of part one.

PREPARING FOR THE TOURNAMENT
by Patrick Scanlan

According to the rules, the tournament begins with the drop of a puck in the first game on the first Wednesday of March. This year's host will be Winnipeg, Canada. Winnepeg will decide how many teams they can accomodate, more information will be available on this site later. Last year, 32 teams attended the tournament. Limitations must be set because of the availability of ice and accomodations. Last year, the slots were filled on a first come, first served basis (sounds like ATC service provisions). That means , you submit your team roster and tournament fees. Last year the fees for the 2002 tournament were due in October 2001, at a rate of $225.00 per player (spectator fees are less). Tournament fees cover four games ice time, officials, transportation to and from the arena, some of the beer, meet and greet event Tuesday before the tournament and the Friday night banquet.

So, here is a big tip. Are you an individual and you want to play? Get with a team soon, send me a listing for Teams Wanted/ Players Wanted, time is quickly approaching. Get in touch with folks on the Puckheads in Cyberspace page. You don't necesarily need to be a good player , we have an entire player rating system to rank you. You think you can put an entire team together? Well then, you have your work cut out for you. Start collecting that money, and tell the folks who will get back to you next week or next month that they don't have that kind of time. Believe me, if you wait too long, you will not be sending the team. As much as possible try to play together as a team whenever you can. The tournament is becoming more and more competitive every year. In all four divisions of play I saw many fierce games played. Time to pal around comes afterward. Note,if you fight, you are finished, no refund, goodbye, pack your bag, period. Most games you will find are played very cleanly, unlike what you may be used to on your home ice.

Schedules are usually published weeks before the tournament. If you are playing against a team from another country, it is customary to exchange small token gifts with your opponent players. Avoid embarrasment; when the guys from Dusseldorf show up with mini kegs of Altbier and souvenir glasses for you to take home, you will be glad you prepared for that.

There is one other issue. I know most of you are hard pressed to get time off to go to the tournament, but if at all possible, get there a day or two early. You will have more time to socialize in a leisurely atmosphere. The tournament organizers can arrange for you to play informal games against local teams or other tournament participants, for a nominal fee. Sometimes there are pick up games you can join in on. These games are usually on Monday and Tuesday. Most of the European teams are already in town because they like to stay for an entire week.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE THERE
Show up at the hotel, argue with the staff about the room that you reserved back in November. Get it all sorted out. Go to your room. Drop your shit in a corner of the room. Put on your favorite hockey jersey and go find the bar! Look for the scruffiest characters there, yup, those animals. There they are, prime specimens of the species Beerinus Vectoralis ( The Northern Separator) a rare breed of air traffic controller, approximately 400 in number, distributed from Anchorage down to California to Miami, to Newfounland, parts of Europe and Russia. They are identified by their call: " Hey, get me another beer, dammit!" . Actually, you will find these folks to be friendly and easy to talk to. What I like about the tournament is that a lot of us don't spend a lot of time talking about the job. I don't know about you but I get tired of explaining what I do for a living to people I meet. At least for me this is a welcome break. Many of the folks who spend time getting to know the people from the other teams build relationships that last a lifetime. When you have been going for a few years, it almost seems like you can start up a conversation right where you left off the year before. Anyway, if you are new there, tell folks where you are from and don't be afraid to join in. This is one of the few organisations I have ever come across which won't make you feel like an outsider, there are no cliques here. There are language barriers at times, but if you want to drink vodka with the Russians, you just go right up and ask them, you will only regret that the bed won't stop spinning the next morning!

Hockey comes way too early the next morning, even if your game is at noon! But no matter how you feel, you can't let the team down. Get that stinky gear on and hit the ice. The cold air will do you some good. Hopefully you know what happens during a hockey game so I won't go into the details. If not, you may want to think about another activity like a union convention or some other thing. Just think, with three days to play four games, you get to play two games on one of the days. After hockey, a lot of folks find time for a nap before heading out for more social activities, some of them organised by the tournament. That nap, by the way, is in a room with two sets of wet, reeking hockey gear strewn about the room, so choose your roommate carefully. Friday night is the banquet, check out the pictures on Ugly Bastards. I won't go into any details here, just have fun! Go home Saturday or Sunday, any later and the locals will buy you a ticket home.

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