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Hockey tourney scores goal

Dear Editor:On behalf of the Aspen Junior Hockey Board, its family and friends, and the Aspen community, I would like to thank Tim Ware for another successful Fall Face-Off hockey tournament.In the three years that Tim has run this event, the tournament has grown from 30 teams to more than 90. This year as many as 69 games were played in a single three-day weekend. With close to 200 games over the course of the three-weekend tournament, it is becoming one of the largest hockey events in the entire state of Colorado and one of the most popular.What does this mean for Aspen? Revenue and pride within the community! To the best of our calculations, more than 1,200 participants and their families came to Aspen each weekend and enjoyed the local restaurants and retail stores, and stayed in local lodging properties, all during the traditional slower “offseason.”Local vendors sold T-shirts, and local photographers captured the action. Countless volunteers, friends and family took turns hosting the tournament, keeping time and scoring the games, manning the food concessions, etc. – totaling more than 1,200 hours of donated time each weekend!In addition to all that Tim Ware and the hockey families do, I would like to thank Loren Ryerson, Mike Tierney, Jackie Ayres, Evan Boenning and Bruce and Kathy Dreher for their countless hours spent at the rinks for this event. George Pucak, Pete Whitmore, Erich Grueter and all of the staff at both the Lewis Ice Arena and the Aspen Ice Garden did a great job keeping the tournament on schedule and dealing with all the issues that arise during such an event. The city of Aspen should be proud of the work done by its employees at both facilities.I would also like to congratulate the Aspen Midget Majors, the Aspen Midget Minors, and the girls U-14 teams that won their divisions and the Aspen Pee Wee A team, which came in second.The efforts put forth by Tim Ware and his team of volunteers (which started in mid-summer) reflects the kind of dedication to our community that exists, often times below the radar. The families and players that visited to play in the tournament felt welcome, had a great time and fully plan to return to Aspen.Rick NewtonpresidentAspen Junior Hockey