The New England Invitational Sled Hockey Tournament had a very humble beginning in 1999 when George Powell asked Dale Wise to put together a 3 team Exhibition sled Hockey Tournament as part of his Chowder Cup Tournament at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough Mass. The Chowder Cup started in 1991 when George and his counterpart, Jerry Biron, in New York got into a heated discussion as to who were better hockey players New Yorkers or New Englanders. George and Jerry met over lunch to discuss a tournament to settle the issue. Each ordered a bowl of Clam Chowder. George ordered New England style and Jerry ordered Manhattan style. Jerry started making some disparaging remarks about New England Clam Chowder and how Manhattan Chowder was better. George suggested a friendly wager that the looser of the tournament drink a quart of the winner’s clam chowder and thus the name for the tournament Chowder Cup was born.

The 3 teams that played in the Exhibition Tournament were the Boston Blades, the Long Island Eagles, & the New England Ice Picks. The tournament was a 5 game Round Robin event with the Boston Blades beating the Long Island Eagles in the final game. There were no trophies or awards, but George was so impressed that he asked us to expand the tournament to 4 teams the following year.

In 2000 the tournament was officially called the Sled Hockey Chowder Cup and 4 teams competed. The teams were the Boston Blades, the Long Island Eagles, the New England Ice Picks, & the Prior Sledgehammers from Canada. The Sledgehammers went into Boston Saturday night & partied until 3am. Sunday morning they had a Tailgate breakfast in the parking lot consisting of Budweiser and Jack Daniels. The Boston Blades thought they’d have easy pickings the way the Canadians were tossing down the booze. Alas that was not the case. The more the Canadians drank the better they played. The Sledgehammers beat the Boston Blades to win the 1st Official Sled Hockey Chowder Cup. George Powell donated a trophy for the Canadians to take home.

In 2001 the Sled Hockey Chowder Cup separated from the Able Body Chowder Cup and moved to the Ice Center in Salem NH. The tournament expanded to a 6 team 12 game event. The 6 teams were the Boston Blades, the Dallas Sled Stars, the New England Ice Picks, the Niagra Challengers, the Prior Sledgehammers, & the RIC Blackhawks. The Blackhawks won the Championship by beating the Boston Blades 5 to 0. Each member of the Blackhawks received a ring as their reward.

The 1st 3 years would not have been possible without the help of George Powell. In 1999 & in 2000 he paid for the ice time, and in 2001 he donated a significant amount of money to help pay for the tournament, as well as donating his time as a scorekeeper.

2002 the tournament moved back to the New England Sports Center. The Adult Division expanded to 8 teams: the Boston Blades, the Buffalo Freeze, the Dallas Sled Stars, the EPVA Islanders, the New England Ice Picks, the PVA Avalanche, the RIC Blackhawks, & the Rose Raiders from Canada. The Rose Raiders beat the Blackhawks by 1 to 0 in a fast pace, hard checking game, to win the Championship. A Junior Division was added with 2 teams competing the MHS Chariots, & the Niagra Challengers. The Challengers won all the games, but everyone had great time.

2002 sparked a keen interest in Sled Hockey. The US Paralympic Team went undefeated in Salt Lake to win the Gold medal. Mike Burns read about the US team in American Hockey Magazine and brought his Uncle Al Ferst to the tournament in Marlborough. Al got to meet all the players from the US & Canadian Paralympic Teams and fell in love with Sled Hockey. Al had built a rink 2 years earlier in Westfield Mass called Amelia Park and he wanted to start a Sled Hockey Program in Westfield. The Amelia Park Foundation bought 12 Sleds and in October of 2002, members of the Boston Blades put on a Sled Hockey Clinic for staff & patients of Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. A month later the Springfield Sliders became the 2nd Junior Sled Hockey Team in New England. Over the next couple of months Amelia Park donated ice time to several teams to play games. Al said he wanted to make Amelia Park the Sled Hockey Capital of the US.

2003 the name was changed to the New England Invitational Sled Hockey Tournament and it was moved to Amelia Park. Amelia Park donated all of the ice time, secured the referees and held a Barbecue on Saturday afternoon for all of the players and their families. The Adult Division now had 8 teams. The Boston Blades, the Buffalo Freeze, the CanAm Kings, the Dallas Sled Stars, the EPVA Islanders, the Northeast Passage Ice Picks, the Ottawa Sledgehammers, & the RIC Blackhawks. The Blackhawks defeated the Sledgehammers to capture the Championship. The Junior Division was expanded to 4 teams the MHS Chariots, the Niagra Challengers, the Springfield Sliders, & the So Jersey Wings of Steel. The Championship Game between the Challengers & the Wings of Steel ended in a tie. A five-minute Overtime Period was played. The Challengers scored a goal with just 1 second left on the clock to win the Championship. People leaving the rink said they had never seen a more exciting game including the Stanley Cup Play Offs.

2004 saw the Junior Division expand to 8 teams. The teams were the Bennett Blazers, the MHS Chariots, the Northern Sliders, the Niagra Challengers, the Ottawa valley Bandits, the So Jersey Wings of Steel, the Springfield Sliders, & the Vineland Sled Stars. The Wings of Steel defeated the Vineland Sled Stars to win the Junior Division Championship. In the Adult Division 2 teams dropped out at the last minute. Fortunately a new team, the CT Wolfpack was recruited to enter the tournament. The 7 Adult Teams were the Buffalo Freeze, the CT Wolfpack, the Colorado Avalanche, the New England Bruins, the Ontario Kings, the RIC Blackhawks, & the United Spinal Rangers. The Buffalo Freeze & the Ontario Kings met in the Championship Game. After 3 periods the score was tied 3 to 3. The game went into Overtime. After the Overtime Period the score was still tied 3 to 3. The game would now have to be decided by a Shoot Out. Each team picked 3 players to shoot on the opposing goalie one at a time. After all 3 players took their shoots the score was still tied 3 to 3. This scenario was repeated and after 2 series of Shoot Outs, 6 players from each team had taken a shot on the opposing goalie and the score was still tied at 3 to 3. Dale then decided that the Toss of a Coin would determine the winner. A Gold Dollar that Al Ferst had given Dale was given to the Referee. Since the Kings were the visiting team they had the choice of calling the toss. Lou Mulvihill called Heads. The coin landed Tails and the Freeze was declared the Winner. Rich DeGlopper of the Freeze told Lou that he would have called Heads also. Lou said next year he would bring a ‘Loonie’ (Canadian $1 coin) or a Toonie’ (Canadian $2 coin) for the coin toss.

Amelia Park again was home to the 2005 New England Invitational Sled Hockey Tournament, that ran from Friday 4/29/05 thru Sunday 5/1/05.   12 teams from across the US & 3 teams from Canada competed in what could probably be described as the ‘Tournament of Ties and Surprises’.  There were a total of 8 Ties.  4 games ended in tie scores, there were 3 ties in Pool Standings, and 1 tie in Point Standings.

The Bruins & the Blackhawks played to a 2 to 2 tie, and then were tied for 1^st  place in Pool B with 2 wins & 1 tie each.  The Bruins captured 1^st. place in Pool B because they had accumulated 1 more point than the Blackhawks.  The Buffalo Freeze and the Ontario Kings were tied for 1^st. place in Pool A with 2 wins and 1 loss, and were tied in the Point Standings with 9 points each.  Buffalo however took sole possession of 1^st place because they had beaten the Ontario Kings in ‘Head to Head’ play.

The New England the Buffalo Freeze met at noon time on Sunday to play for the Championship, in what promised to be a Hard Checking and Fast Paced Game.  Buffalo had won the Championship in 2004 by virtue of a ‘Coin Toss’.  They didn’t need a coin this year as they out skated and out scored the Bruins 7 to 2 to win the Championship.

The Bennett Blazers and the So. Jersey Wings of Steel had won 1^st place in their respective Pools and met Sunday at 1:30pm to decide who would go home with the 1^st Place Plaque.  This was also the 2^nd year in a row that the So. Jersey Wings of Steel would play for the Championship, which they won in 2004.  That would not be the case this year as the Bennett Blazers as the Blazers scored 2 goals in the 1^st period, 2 goals in the 2^nd and 1 goal in the 3^rd  outscoring the Wings of Steel 5 to 2 to win the Junior Division Championship.

New England Invitational Sled Hockey Tournament
20 Oakland Avenue, Needham, MA 02492-3150
781-444-1019  ctwise@comcast.net
www.newenglandbruins.com/NEInvitational.htm

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