Tournament ICE savings . . . all tournaments require additional ice (or slush) to ensure that games are not curfewed at the end of each day. If our tournament was a 3 day event, we could easily require no less than 10 hours of slush ice, which is an additional cost of approx. $2,000.00, our one day tournament requires only 6 hours of slush ice, an estimated savings of $800.00 semi-finals are also an additional expense . . . we have chosen to not have them and pass the approx. savings of $400/00 per division to the teams. we use the G&T approved 6 team - 3 game scheduling format . . . this is more cost effective than the 4 team - 3 game or 5 team - 4 game formats. AA teams normally are scheduled for 20 minute periods... we have chosen to use15 minute periods for thier games, which saves about 15-20 minutes of additional ice or approx. $75.00 per AA game. Additional savings to the athletes . . . we do not schedule games on Fridays... therefore athletes are not required to take the day off work or use a vacation day. also most teams will not require hotels or purchase meals on the Friday either. Because of all these measures and along with the fact that we do not "build-in" any automatic profits, we are able to provide one of the most affordable tournaments for the adult community and their athletes.

for years we have found that many associations are focused on the minor age groups and use tournaments as one of their primary forms of fundraising. we absoltuly agree on how important this is and support them on their amazing efforts. We believe that adult teams and their players can find it difficult to balance their home, work, and sports life and sometimes because of their overall financial responsibilities the sports take a back seat. This is the primary reason why we will remain focused on running the Ajax one day tournament as a 'not-4-profit' event.

Planning . . . we do have 'slush ice', all at the end of the day, (just in case things go off course). we also take a very aggressive approach throughout the day to keep the games on time, some of our approach to stay on time are . . . having our time/score keepers constantly advise the teams that their games will start up to 10 minutes early, having our officials fill out (finalize) the game sheets off the ice, having the zamboni ready at the door when a game ends, knowing that some divisions usually end early, we schedule them back-to-back with the divisions that often run long,

True . . . you don't often see six teams in one loop unless it's provincials. We have chosen the approved format by the Ontario G&T committee for a 6 team - 3 game loop. We prefer to use this format as it allows us to offer everyone their three games while keeping the costs as low as possible and reducing the teams tournament registration. After-all it's cheaper to have six teams share in the costs for the finals than just four.

Surplus Ice reduction . . . our goal has been to make the tournament as affordable as possible. twenty minute periods require the use of a minimum of 75 minutes of ice per game. the additional game ice required, along with any ice not used, translates to higher registration fee's to the AA teams. we believe that the adult teams and their players are often limited on their funds, and for that reason alone we have chosen the 15 minute periods to keep their prices low. 3 games in one day might have issues of fatigue for the athletes, we chose 15 minutes periods along with more than the minimum recommended rest time between games to help reduce the risk of injuries to the athletes.

Round Robin games, Finals, Semi-Finals, Awards and Slush Ice all contribute to the cost of a tournament. Because our focus is on our athletes and keeping the registration fees as low as possible, we have chosen not to have Semi-Finals and pass on those savings to the teams and their players.

Ringette Ontario does allow for three games in a single day. they also suggest that a minimum of 3 hours of rest between games is required for the body to properly recover between games. our schedule provides every team with more than the Ringette Ontario minimum recommendations for rest between games, we believe that 3 hours between games is simply not doing everything possible to reduce the risk of injury and therefore schedule more.

right now this (callups) depends on your Team Registration Form (TRF) size. The Ringette Ontario rules state that, "you cannot exceed your roster". we are bringing a proposal to both the Adult committee as well as Games & Tournaments that could allow teams the ability (with appropriate approvals) to increase their roster size to a maximum of 12 skaters and a goalie for 18+ teams and/or 13 skaters and a goalie for 35+ teams for any 'one day - 3 game' tournaments. this is somewhat like what is done for teams who go to compete in the Canadian Championships. we do understand that as our athletes get older, playing 3 games in one day can be challenging, we believe that by allowing for the TRF size to be increased for the one day events it will have a positive effect on reducing fatigue and injuries. It may also help to put teams on the same competive level if everyones bench size is allowed to be the same. this will also reduce the overall per player costs (more players sharing the entry fees).

The truth is, we don't really know..., Is it because, we pay them more than other tournaments for their activities? we provide lunch and snacks? the athletes treat them with respect both on and off the ice? they don't need to stay overnight? Like I said we just don't really know..., but whatever it is, it seems to be working.

We follow the rules outlined in the Ringette Ontario manuals. These can be found by following the link below: https://tournamentajax.wixsite.com/18plus/rules

The landscape of entertainment in Durham Region is about to change with the construction of the Pickering Casino Resort just less than 5 minutes from our arena and situated on the boarder of Ajax and Pickering. we are currently exploring the feasibility of entering into a relationship with the resort that will be focused on the adult athletes and their families. Along with lower hotel rates, we hope to secure other benefits to pass on to our adult players.