A popular hockey tournament returns to Essex County this weekend.
The 29th annual Hockey for Hospice event runs from December 27 to December 29 at four arenas in the county.
Speaking on AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg, tournament spokesperson Kyle Beaulieu says the tournament includes more than 230 teams.
He says 2000 players are participating in the event.
"We got 220 games and 250 hours of ice rented," he says.
Beaulieu says the players go out and collect donations.
"We collect all the money, and that all stays here in Windsor-Essex County for our community," says Beaulieu. "So it's just not only for the hockey side of things for this tournament, but we really enforce the education onto the kids about giving back and helping out our community because we all need to help each other."
He says 2024 was a successful tournament.
"Last year was just shy of $535,000 that the kids were able to bring in and a couple corporate sponsors and just help hospice directly," says Beaulieu.
The tournament is being held at the Essex Sports Complex in Essex, the Libro Centre in Amherstburg, the Vollmer Centre in LaSalle, and Tecumseh Arena.
The event has raised more than $5.8 million in 28 years.