Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The Flying Elbows Hockey Tournament returned to the Shawville arena last week for its 25th year of bringing together hockey players from across the greater Pontiac community.
What started as a small memorial for the beloved coach James A. Smith in 1999 has since grown into a three-day, 18-team tournament, which sometimes brings in players from as far as Calgary and Montreal.
This year, after three days of fierce competition between the tournament’s 18 teams, the Danford Lakers team beat the O’Brien team to take home the James A. Smith memorial trophy and the bragging rights for the A bracket, winning the finals in a 2-0 shutout.

The Benders were the victors of the B bracket against the Puck Pirates, winning the Bryan Murray trophy.
Will Armitage has been organizing the fundraising event for the last eight years. “It started with a group of guys . . . and now, here we are today,” Armitage said. “It’s kind of a fundraiser. Whatever we can raise, it’s going to go towards arena upgrades and different things like that.”

The tournament plays an important role in helping the local community, both economically and socially. “It’s a big thing for the community,” Armitage said, “It helps restaurants and the town and everything like that.”
For players like Matthew Dandy, who has made the journey to Shawville for the tournament since 2006, the event serves as a reunion of sorts, bringing together old friends and reigniting a shared passion for hockey.
“You’ve got to appreciate the guys that put it together. If you don’t have them, you don’t have a tournament,” Dandy said. “A lot of us don’t play anymore, and it’s our once-a-year hockey for the year so it means a lot for them to organise it.

The event included live entertainment and refreshments in the Lions Club hall above the rink to keep the players’ spirits up while the tournament took place.
Valley Mountain Band, featuring Rory and Julia Mayhew, kept the Lion’s hall entertained during the tournament’s final games on Saturday night.

“I love getting to play in Shawville because I’m from here,” Rory Mayhew said.
“We’re primarily a country band, so in the city we play more rock and stuff like that, so we kind of push to play out this way a little bit more, so we can play more country music.”
For this year, Armitage expects the money raised will be used to upgrade the arena’s water and plumbing systems.

In previous years, the tournament fundraiser has helped purchase new boards as well as a new score clock for the arena.