Puck drops on annual Fort St. John Petroleum Association hockey tournament

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The 19th annual Fort St. John Petroleum Association’s four-on-four hockey tournament kicks off this week.

A local tradition in the community, the action begins on Wednesday, April 9th at the North Peace Arena.

The petroleum association is a non-profit organization, designed to create an environment based on fraternal camaraderie for educational and social purposes for petroleum-centric workers.

One way to increase the membership is sporting events.  The association also holds curling, golf and trap shooting tournaments throughout the year, in addition to a cribbage tournament, according to tournament chair Lee Hartman.

“We started it trying to entice young men in the oil patch to join,” recalls Hartman. “It was to try and grow the membership with younger people.

“Our general membership was probably an average age of 50 back then. Once we started the tournament, all the players had to be association members. It dropped the average age to around 26.”

The 2025 tournament will feature at least ten teams and only 110 spots for association members.  Each registered player must be a member of the association, and can only do so as an individual.

A draft is then held, with games featuring four-on-four play. No hitting is allowed, and face-offs will only occur after a goal. 

“[Players] don’t know who they’re playing with tonight when they get there,” said Hartman. “[Your teammate could be] somebody you might have had some problems with in the recreation league. 

“But [now] you’re on the same team and now you’re best buds at the end of the weekend.”

As has been the case with previous tournaments, National Hockey League (NHL) alumni will be an attraction of the tournament. 

According to Hartman, alumni “who can still skate” take part, adding celebrity players could switch between teams between periods.

This year’s crop will feature former Edmonton Oilers’ player Craig MacTavish, former Vancouver Canucks’ player Dave Babych, former Calgary Flames’ player Dana Murzyn and Rich and Ron Sutter.

The brothers are part of the famous Sutter family, who had six siblings reach the NHL.

“We’ve always had some kind of entertainment,” said Hartman, who adds NHL alumni over the years have featured the likes of Craig Simpson and Pat Quinn.

A key part of the event will be Thursday night’s Stag Dinner, where the NHL players will talk about their professional hockey careers.

The petroleum association’s Facebook page says there are still spots available to register individual players. Registration will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9th with the draft scheduled to take place at 7:00 p.m.

The first games will start around 9:00 p.m. at the North Peace Arena. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday, April 12th. 

 More information about the tournament is available on Fort St. John Petroleum Association’s website or Facebook page.