The Calgary Buffaloes celebrate after winning the 2008 championship. The Circle K Classic (formerly Mac's Tournament and CP Challenge Cup) is an international

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

tournament held annually for U18 players in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. First held in 1978, the tournament features 25 male teams from across Canada, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The Circle K Classic Tournament begins on December 26 (

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

) and concludes with the championship game on January 1 (

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

). The round robin games are seen by around 3,000 fans, per game, at three local arenas in Calgary. They are the

Max Bell Centre Max Bell Centre may refer to: * Max Bell Centre (Calgary), Alberta, Canada *Max Bell Centre (Winnipeg) The Max Bell Centre is a multipurpose athletic facility located on the University of Manitoba campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is loca ...

, the

Father David Bauer Olympic Arena The Father David Bauer Arena is an ice hockey arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It seats about 1,750 for hockey with a standing room capacity of over 2,000. It is named after Father David Bauer. Canada's defunct national touring team, the brai ...

, and the Flames Community Arena. The main championship game is held at the

Scotiabank Saddledome Scotiabank Saddledome is a multi-use indoor arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located in Stampede Park in the southeast end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames ...

, where it is seen as many as 10,000 spectators. Overall, the tournament draws in as many as 100,000 spectators over the seven days.Official website's History of Circle K Classic Page
/ref> Many of the male players here would have played at their highest point of their ice hockey careers. However, some of them went on to play in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. These players are recognized by the Circle K Classic tournament officials by having their photos added to the Wall of Fame at the Max Bell Centre. On January 2, 1989,

Petr Nedvěd Petr Nedvěd (born December 9, 1971) is a Czech-Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1990 and 2007. Early career Nedvěd was born in Liberec, Czechoslovakia to Jaroslav ...

, who was playing for the champion Chemical Works

Litvínov Litvínov (; ) is a town in Most District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. It is known as an industrial centre. Administrative division Litvínov consists of 12 municipal parts (in brackets po ...

team, left his hotel room in the middle of the night and walked into a Calgary

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

police station. Once there, he declared his intention to defect from his native country of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Tournament format

The current Circle K Classic tournament starts with five pools of five male teams each. Each pool is "hosted" by a Calgary area team: the Calgary Flames (AAA), the Calgary Royals, the Calgary Northstars and the Calgary Buffaloes, as well as the Airdrie CFR Bisons. They all play their ice hockey games in the

Alberta Midget Hockey League The Alberta Elite Hockey League or AEHL (formerly the Alberta Midget Hockey League) is the provincial U18 "AAA" ice hockey league for Alberta, Canada. The league consists of 17 teams split into the North and South Divisions. League champions go ...

. All male teams face each other in their respective round robin pools (from December 26 to 30). The top five first place and the next three highest-point second place teams, in any pool, advance to the single elimination playoff round on December 31 (

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

). From there, the remaining two teams left would play in the championship game on January 1, in order to determine the winner of the tournament. In the former female division, there were three pools of five teams each. The main female hosts here were the Calgary Fire and the Rocky Mountain Raiders from

Okotoks Okotoks ( , originally ) is a town in the Calgary Metropolitan Region, Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Downtown Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to t ...

. The top five pool winners each and one wild-card spot advanced to the semifinals. From there, the two remaining female teams went on to play at the championship game, in order to determine the winner of the tournament.

Champions

* Note: ''Numbers in brackets indicated teams that have won more than one Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament championship in their history.''

Male division

Female division

The female division was introduced in 2004. Due to declining registration, the 2017 tournament was the final one that took place.

Alumni in the NHL

The following is a partial list of Circle K Classic tourney alumni who have gone on to play in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

.Circle K Classic MIDGET AAA WORLD INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT WALL OF FAME Page
/ref>

References

External links

Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament Official website
{{Midget AAA Hockey in Canada Ice hockey in Calgary Ice hockey tournaments in Canada Youth ice hockey in Canada