About Us

2008 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Peterborough Liftlock Atom Hockey Tournament, and a brief history of the event shows that there is much to celebrate.
The Tournament began in 1958-59 as a one day, eight team affair for Pee Wees. With the introduction of play-downs for this group by the OMHA, the Tournament was changed to Novice level, and eventually adopted the name "Atom" in 1974 as a result of OMHA changes to age groupings.

For the first 11 years, the Tournament was held in mid-March under the Chairmanship of Neil Clark. In the fall of 1969, a group headed by Jack Guerin, Lloyd Hardy, Don Dorsett, and Howie Eastman approached the League Executive with a proposal to change the Tournament to a two day, 16 team event. At a meeting held in Dressing Room #4 of the old Civic Arena, a lengthy discussion of pros and cons resulted in vote of seven to six favouring the proposal. This initiated a decade of tremendous change for the Tournament.

The enlarged event was a great success under the Chairmanship of Howie Eastman and was repeated in 1971. In 1972, the present Olympic-style round-robin format was adopted, guaranteeing each team a minimum of three games. In 1973, under the Chairmanship of Jack Guerin, the Tournament enlarged to four categories (A, B, C and D) and 36 teams competed. 1974 brought the first international entries with two Detroit based teams among the 48 competitors. In 1975 and 1976, 56 teams visited the annual event. Such expansion, coupled with OMHA rule changes enforcing stop-time hockey on all tournaments, prompted the addition of an ice-pad in the Village of Ennismore.

In 1977, Alvin Philips began a 10 year term as Chairman, and helped see the Tournament through the terrible snowstorms of 1977 and 1978. In spite of one of the worst blizzards in Ontario history, 1977 was a success with 49 of 56 teams managing to make it to Peterborough. Undeterred by the storms of the previous two years, the Tournament expanded to 64 teams and used the Otonabee memorial Arena for the first time.

Like the previous decade, the 1980's comprised a period of rapid growth for the Tournament. With entries from across Ontario, Quebec, and USA, the event expanded to 72 teams in 1981, and added the Douro Arena among its facilities. 1984 was another landmark year that included the addition of the Emily-Omemee Rink, a new division for "house league" teams, and a record 84 entrants. Further  growth came in 1985. when 92 teams entered and the Dummer Community Centre in Warsaw was added as a 9th ice
pad. In 1986, current Chairman Steve Casey was elected and helped bring the Tournament to 98 teams in 1987, and 96 teams in 1988 and 1989.

The 1990 and 1991 editions of the Tournament included 104 and 99 competitors respectively. To accommodate this growth, the "D" and "E" divisions were Subdivided into 'D", ''DD'', "E", and "EE" in 1991. The 35th Anniversary of the Tournament came in 1993 and was celebrated by a performance of the Greatest Hockey Legends featuring such stars as Maurice and Henri Richard, Frank Mahovlich, and Norm Ullman. The hugely successful game was played before a crowd of 3500 at the Memorial Centre, and has become a mainstay event at subsequent Opening Ceremonies. 1993 was also the year in which the Millbrook Arena was added.

In 1994, a disagreement between the OMHA and CAHA excluded outside jurisdictions from competition. Despite this setback, the tournament expanded to a record 116 team, 5 day event. This record was exceeded in 1997 with the addition of two new ice-pads at the Evinrude Centre facilitating 121 teams. The Evinrude Centre became the new headquarters for the Tournament that year and also became home to a Tournament sponsored trade show called the Hockey Spectacular Showcase.

1998 brought a record 128 teams to the Tournament, and to commemorate 40 years of  hard work and success, organizers held a special breakfast for long-term Volunteers and Sponsors who helped bring this event from a one day, eight team affair to the world’s largest weekend Atom Hockey Tournament!