On Monday, the Commissioner of the Great North Midget League officially announced that the league would host a Minor Midget Showcase, which will include four teams, (Soo Thunderbirds, Sudbury Wolves, North Bay Trappers and Thunder Bay Kings) to determine its first ever league champion.

Darren Potvin, who was named Commissioner of the GNML before the start of the season, announced via press release that the league would host a tournament of champions style showcase, to determine who would be crowned Minor Midget Champion in NOHA.  The tournament will take place from March 2nd to March 4th in Sault Ste. Marie.  In addition, Potvin also added that a fourth team would be taking part of the showcase as Thunder Bay Kings played a big part in the development of the event.

“Earlier in the summer, the Kings organization approached our league about the prospect to host this type of event” said Potvin. “We felt that with the number of minor midget teams that were introduced into our league, the timing is perfect to host this tournament. We are excited about having this take place in such a great city and our players will have the opportunity to play in some state of the art facilities such as the Essar Center and John Rhodes Community Center” added the Commissioner.

The event will open on Friday March 2nd with each team playing their first game at Essar Center which is home to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.  Each team will be guaranteed five games throughout the three day showcase with the Championship Game being held on Sunday afternoon at John Rhodes Community Center.

“Every OHL club will receive a personal invitation to our event.  Our plan is to have as many, if not all OHL clubs have representation, to give our players the best possible scouting and development they deserve” said Potvin.  “All scouts in attendance will be treated first class and we plan on hosting an event worth attending.  There will be no cost at the gate and we are hopeful to draw some great crowds for these games especially those held at Rankin Arena.”

The full schedule will be available once it is officially announced but Potvin did confirm that a welcome banquet would be held on the opening day of the tournament.

“Friday evening, we will have a team banquet with a guest speaker. Following the banquet, all teams will be treated to a Greyhounds game which will be playing at home that weekend” said Potvin. “We are all looking forward to this great event and we can assure everyone that there will be a high level of hockey being played throughout the three days.”

More information will be released once it becomes available.