Super Series hockey making a stop at ANIA
The Alice Noble Ice Arena (ANIA) is drawing the elite. Actually, it is drawing the super elite Sept. 16-18.
The ANIA is one of 10 sites across North America that will play host to the Super Series AAA Elite Hockey Tournament over the next five months, with Super Series making its stop in Wooster Sept. 16-18.
The 2K Super Series features the top 2000 birth-year teams from across the country. Joining the Cleveland Barons Pee Wee Minor AAA hockey team at the ANIA that weekend will be Dallas North Stars Elite, the St. Louis Junior Blues, Westchester Express, Buffalo Regals, Atlantic AAA Storm, Milwaukee Junior Admirals and the Florida Junior AAA Panthers.
The best news for local fans is that the tournament is free at the 900-seat ANIA, which gives hockey fans or hockey-curious fans an opportunity to see some of the top youth hockey in North America. Other sites in the series are Westchester, N.Y., which held a tournament over Labor Day and will host another in December, Boston in October, Denver in November, Buffalo and Dallas in December, Los Angles at the end of December, Atlanta and St. Louis in January and Morristown, N.J., over President’s Day weekend in February.
At the end of those series, Seth Greenberg, general manager of the ANIA, is hoping to draw the winning teams back to Wooster for a championship series.
“In March I’m hoping to do a tournament of champions for all these venues and play a finale of the series,” said Greenberg. “I’ve got a proposal in to host that.”
While Wooster is hardly the size of a major city, Greenberg isn’t conceding anything when it comes to attracting tournaments such as this.
“I think we’re on par with those major cities,” said Greenberg. “I came to Wooster from an arena in Cleveland where I worked for 10 years. When I was there, we hosted state tournaments and national tournaments. In the arena industry you can’t rely on just customers in the immediate area. You need to bring in outside business to supplement your revenue. Wooster is in an even smaller skating market, so we have to draw business from outside to Wooster.
“We’ve managed to do that successfully so far. I’d say from an arena perspective, we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage in regards that we’re a single sheet. Most of the sites that are hosting have multiple sheets of ice in one complex. The Pepsi Center in Buffalo, which I’m familiar with, is a six-sheet, so they host on larger scale. They do that and can maintain their other areas of programing. That weekend, we continue non-stop from 8 a.m. Friday non-stop to 4 p.m. Sunday, other than sleep. We’ll have eight teams playing two games a day, with a couple of hours between. And as far as a venue, ours is first class, top to bottom.”
Wooster hosted the tournament last year, “which was real positive,” said Greenberg.
“We were able to get commitments from teams to come back. One thing that separates Wooster from a Denver or an Atlanta is we’re a self-contained venue. We have hotels within miles and minutes; restaurants are the same. In ice hockey, it’s not uncommon to have a hotel be 45 minutes away and then drive an hour to the next site. Teams are spending time in their cars. Here, we have locker rooms so teams don’t have to haul their gear back to their hotels. They can leave stuff in the arena. Last year the weather was so nice people walked from the Hampton Inn to the arena because it is so convenient.
“We will fill 120 hotel rooms over three days -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday night – so we’re looking at pumping $50,000 into the local economy, let alone filling our ice surface with this event.”
Travel is the name of the game at this level, noted Greenberg.
“The 2000 Barons feature the best 2000-birth years from all over the Cleveland area or as far south as Columbus,” he said. “It’s the same situation for all the teams coming in. You are not going to go and register to play – you will have 100-plus kids trying out. They are looking for a competitive travel schedule. There are kids in this tournament you will see in the NHL one day.
“The more hockey we have, the better it is for the arena. Hopefully we will attract people who are curious to see what an 11-year-old looks like or pique their curiosity.”
Games on Friday and Saturday will begin at 8 a.m., with the final game beginning at 8:30 p.m. those days. On Sunday, the first game begins at 7:30, with the finale beginning at 2:30 p.m.
The ANIA is one of 10 sites across North America that will play host to the Super Series AAA Elite Hockey Tournament over the next five months, with Super Series making its stop in Wooster Sept. 16-18.
The 2K Super Series features the top 2000 birth-year teams from across the country. Joining the Cleveland Barons Pee Wee Minor AAA hockey team at the ANIA that weekend will be Dallas North Stars Elite, the St. Louis Junior Blues, Westchester Express, Buffalo Regals, Atlantic AAA Storm, Milwaukee Junior Admirals and the Florida Junior AAA Panthers.
The best news for local fans is that the tournament is free at the 900-seat ANIA, which gives hockey fans or hockey-curious fans an opportunity to see some of the top youth hockey in North America. Other sites in the series are Westchester, N.Y., which held a tournament over Labor Day and will host another in December, Boston in October, Denver in November, Buffalo and Dallas in December, Los Angles at the end of December, Atlanta and St. Louis in January and Morristown, N.J., over President’s Day weekend in February.
At the end of those series, Seth Greenberg, general manager of the ANIA, is hoping to draw the winning teams back to Wooster for a championship series.
“In March I’m hoping to do a tournament of champions for all these venues and play a finale of the series,” said Greenberg. “I’ve got a proposal in to host that.”
While Wooster is hardly the size of a major city, Greenberg isn’t conceding anything when it comes to attracting tournaments such as this.
“I think we’re on par with those major cities,” said Greenberg. “I came to Wooster from an arena in Cleveland where I worked for 10 years. When I was there, we hosted state tournaments and national tournaments. In the arena industry you can’t rely on just customers in the immediate area. You need to bring in outside business to supplement your revenue. Wooster is in an even smaller skating market, so we have to draw business from outside to Wooster.
“We’ve managed to do that successfully so far. I’d say from an arena perspective, we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage in regards that we’re a single sheet. Most of the sites that are hosting have multiple sheets of ice in one complex. The Pepsi Center in Buffalo, which I’m familiar with, is a six-sheet, so they host on larger scale. They do that and can maintain their other areas of programing. That weekend, we continue non-stop from 8 a.m. Friday non-stop to 4 p.m. Sunday, other than sleep. We’ll have eight teams playing two games a day, with a couple of hours between. And as far as a venue, ours is first class, top to bottom.”
Wooster hosted the tournament last year, “which was real positive,” said Greenberg.
“We were able to get commitments from teams to come back. One thing that separates Wooster from a Denver or an Atlanta is we’re a self-contained venue. We have hotels within miles and minutes; restaurants are the same. In ice hockey, it’s not uncommon to have a hotel be 45 minutes away and then drive an hour to the next site. Teams are spending time in their cars. Here, we have locker rooms so teams don’t have to haul their gear back to their hotels. They can leave stuff in the arena. Last year the weather was so nice people walked from the Hampton Inn to the arena because it is so convenient.
“We will fill 120 hotel rooms over three days -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday night – so we’re looking at pumping $50,000 into the local economy, let alone filling our ice surface with this event.”
Travel is the name of the game at this level, noted Greenberg.
“The 2000 Barons feature the best 2000-birth years from all over the Cleveland area or as far south as Columbus,” he said. “It’s the same situation for all the teams coming in. You are not going to go and register to play – you will have 100-plus kids trying out. They are looking for a competitive travel schedule. There are kids in this tournament you will see in the NHL one day.
“The more hockey we have, the better it is for the arena. Hopefully we will attract people who are curious to see what an 11-year-old looks like or pique their curiosity.”
Games on Friday and Saturday will begin at 8 a.m., with the final game beginning at 8:30 p.m. those days. On Sunday, the first game begins at 7:30, with the finale beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Published: September 9, 2011
