The story of the Mooretown Rise Up Cup might seem brief, but already there has been some terrific history and additions to our tournament that celebrates its sixth run this Fall.
In the second year of its current form, the Mooretown Rise Up Cup started back in 2014 as the Mooretown Tri County/House League Tournament. The original tournament was founded by Executive Board Member Jason McLean, so that local league teams playing in the Tri County Hockey League, as well as other nearby house leagues, would have a local, "REP-style" tournament to play in. His ideas of a four game guarantee and a banner for the Champions were the cornerstones of the original tournament and continue to be today. It was Jason's vision that year-to-year, the MTMHA would continue to offer young, local league hockey players a chance to play in a fun, safe and competitive tournament that they could win a banner and medals for their efforts in. He hoped that teams would bring their tournament banners back to their hometown barns and that they would proudly be hung up. He wanted all teams to have a chance to add to the story of their local associations, which was one of the major reasons he created the tournament. We are proud to carry on Jason's original vision and continue to strive to make our tournament more fun and more competitive year-after-year!
Last year, the tournament changed its name to the Rise Up Cup. The name change was a nod to the Jr Flags moniker by Executive Board Member Adam Oblak. The tournament's new name also reflected a sense of "sportsmanship" he wanted all players to have when they played in Mooretown. The embodiment of that sportsmanship was the Novice/Atom Pin Sharing Ceremony, the on-ice MVP Awards and the Consolation Finals. Adam felt these three additions would add to the "rise up" principles he wanted the tournament to stand for and was in keeping with the original, competitive concept behind the tournament as set-out by Jason McLean.
Last Fall, there were 45 teams, from eight different leagues, playing in the Rise Up Cup. It was amazing to see so many teams arriving from all over Southern Ontario to play in what started out as our little tournament. A special shout out to Port Stanley, Dorchester, Seaforth, New Hamburg and Kent who hoisted the Rise Up Cup in its inaugural year. Your teams will be etched on our Rise Up Cup for many years to come. We are hoping that in the future, we will continue to see old & new friends coming to "rise up" with us and are very proud of how far we have come in such a short time!
Thanks for your support throughout these early years!
And thanks for "Rising Up" with your Mooretown Jr Flags!