0511: The Tri-Winter Tournament
Saturday · Jul 13 · 2013 | 9:00 AM PDT
Here's an odd Classic Saturday idea to throw out there. Tex Fischer put together these Heritage Classic-type throwback designs for a trio of Canadian teams a couple years ago. They've been sitting in my inbox for a while. But I suddenly had a thought. With all the extra outdoor games we're getting next winter, the concept is bound to lose some of its novelty.
So to recapture it, imagine a three-team, two-day outdoor tournament. Three clubs could meet at a neutral site, say in Saskatchewan. Maybe Toronto and Vancouver play on Saturday night and the winner faces Montreal on Sunday. (The loser of the first game could have a make-up date set with Montreal later in the season to balance the schedule.)
Is that idea totally crazy? I think it would make for a very cool event over a long holiday weekend. And it would make the Heritage Classic unique again. Not only that, but from a marketing perspective, you get another huge fan base in the mix.
Reader Comments (8)
What's funny us that the Canucks actually ended up wearing those jerseys.
That's actually really cool. They could announce three teams at the beginning of the season, and then when the time comes, the team with the most points at the time gets to be the automatic into the championship.
would be a dream come true!!! GREAT stuff
Maybe they could just have a three-team set of games played over a few weekends. First weekend could be Vancouver-Toronto, second could be Toronto-Montreal and the third could be Vancouver-Montreal and the top-ranking team wins.
Why not make it like College hockey tournaments and have 4 teams, 2 games saturday, winners play sunday, maybe have the "3rd place" game on sunday also
Two out of three ain't bad. The other jerseys are great, but I'm not a fan of the Habs sweater. It looks more modern rather than vintage, and there isn't nearly enough red.
No need for an elimination tournament: just play three games over a weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Each team play against each other and in the end, the overall standing will crown the champion, with different tie-breakers (because there're surely going to have some).
I've always thought that would be a good idea for All Star weekend. Instead of a boring East vs West game, how about a 3on3 Tournament? All 4 conferences (no draft) could have an 11 man team (2 Goalies, 3 Defencemen, and 6 Forwards), playing with a goalie, a defenceman, and two forwards on the ice at a time. The games could be shortened to three 10 minute periods to save time and energy. The schedule for the weekend could look something like this:
Thursday: 7pm: Skills competition
Friday: 6pm: A vs B
8pm: C vs D
Saturday: 1pm: A vs C
3pm: B vs D
6pm: A vs D
8pm: B vs C
Sunday: 1pm: #1 Seed vs #4 Seed
3pm: #2 Seed vs #3 Seed
6pm: Bronze Medal Game (Losers)
8pm: Gold Medal Game (Winners)