Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KAMLOOPS HOCKEY PRODUCTS

KIBIHT cancelled for 2020, but two players remember tourney experiences fondly

Dec 31, 2020 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — For over half a century, the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey tournament has been a staple in the sporting scene of the city. Thousands of young hockey players have participated in the event over those years, including many from Kamloops.

CFJC Today caught up with a pair of those players – one whose playing days are over, and another who is still chasing the dream of pro hockey – to talk about their memories and what the tournament means to them.

It’s been a few years since Mark Recchi played minor hockey. The Hockey Hall of Famer still remembers lacing up his skates at the Kamloops international bantam ice hockey tournament back in 1982 and ’83.

“I grew up going to KIBIHT games,” Mark Recchi remembers. “My dad and my brothers, my mom, we all loved watching it. It’s a really cool event for Kamloops, and for me, a little hockey player – I went idolizing those kids. It was such a cool event.

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The first time a Kamloops club won the tournament was in 1994. seventeen years later, a team featuring Joe Hicketts, Ryan Gropp and a handful of other WHL draft picks would become just the second local team to take home the title. two more Kamloops squads have since hoisted the KIBIHT trophy – in 2017 and 2019. the hero of that 2017 tournament was Logan Stankoven, who scored four goals in the championship game

“That was probably one of the biggest crowds I’d played in front of up until that point,” Stankoven says. “It was pretty cool having the whole community, friends and family, coming out to cheer us on. I remember it was so loud in that building.”

This year’s edition of KIBIHT was cancelled back in September, another event claimed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rinks around the city should be stuffed full of families and teams from out of town this week.

“It’s great hockey. It’s fun watching the kids and seeing the up-and-comers who are maybe going to play junior or go onto college,” Recchi says. “Some of those kids are going to be NHL’ers, which is always special.”

While hockey fans in Kamloops won’t be treated to some of the best young hockey talents in western Canada this year, the plan is to make sure KIBIHT is back next year, as big and better than before.