Desert Cup AAA Invitational

Hey so I have some exciting news! It's another hockey post, and I'm super stoked about it! So recently I got some really cool news from my dad. So I was just sitting around the house after school, not really wanting to do homework, and then my dad suddenly called, "Hey, Alec!". I was confused, because he seemed really excited; it was only Tuesday, so I wasn't sure how he could possibly be happy. He asked me to come upstairs to look at the computer. I did as I was told, and went upstairs. Immediately I became happier than ever before. As I looked at the screen, I saw an email from some Canadian guy. But this wasn't any Canadian dude; this guy was the main tournament director of the Desert Cup AAA Invitational. This tournament is one that invites elite players from across the U.S. and parts of Canada. As soon as I read the words 'Desert Cup', I was so happy I couldn't help but smile and yelp in joy. This tournament would have tons of scouts, and all of the players going would be at the highest level. Here's a description of the tournament...


This tournament is being held in the middle of the desert in the heart of Las Vegas. Surprisingly, there are quite a few good tournaments that are played in LV. This one, the Desert Cup, is one of a few AAA tournaments played in the state. There are many cool aspects to this tournament, and I'm very excited to be able to play in it this year. This tournament runs from July 6-11, and it includes five teams: Team Ontario, Team Can-Am, Team Canada, Team USA and Team Toronto. These teams are created from kids from across the US and Canada. Another cool aspect is that the team stays in the same hotel, which happens to be the Luxor, one of the infamous hotels of Las Vegas. This would be a sick portion of the tournament while being away from the rink. Yet another cool aspect would be the player mentors, which obviously mentor each player and talk about how they can get better and stuff like that. Each and every coach and player mentor has a huge hockey background which is pretty cool as well. One of the last aspects that I enjoy is the gear we get... We all get jerseys, socks, shells, hats and tee shirts with the tournament logo on them. So there are a ton of cool things that will be going on at this tournament.

Team USA's (my teams') jerseys this year... Creds to Desert Cup Invitational

A few of my good friends/teammates went to this tournament last year, and it seemed like they enjoyed it a ton. They were all on the same team (Team USA), and each one of them said it was wayyyy fun. Their team was so good that they ended up winning the tournament, with one of my friends, Mason Mannek, scoring the game-winning-goal. Mason got the championship MVP award as well. So hopefully they'll come back to play in the tournament this year, because that'd be incredibly fun to win a tournament of this level. So basically, this is going to be a blast of a tournament; from the high level of playing, to the mentors, to the hotel and to the gear we get, this will be a ton of fun and I can't wait for July.

My teammates' team who won it last year.
Creds again to Desert Cup Invitational