Tournament will honour lives of players, mother killed in accident in 1984

PICTOU?COUNTY - Allyson Wheadon has a newspaper clipping from February 1984 she photocopies every year around this time.
It tells of three boys and a mother killed in a car accident on the way home from a hockey tournament in Chatham, N.B. Donald Gladwin, 15, John Allan MacDonald,14, Shawn MacKay, 15, and his mother Lee Marie MacKay all died.
Wheadon worked with one of the boy's mothers and remembers the impact it had on the community.
"It was terrible," she says,
The clipping has a picture of the boys. They are young.
"They look like our boys do," said Wheadon.
As co-chair of the 26th Annual Scotsburn Bantam AAA Memorial Tournament and a longtime volunteer for the tournament Wheadon doesn't want anybody to forget what this tournament is about.
So many kids and their parents spend so much time on the road in the winter making it to and from the games. The newspaper clipping could be about any one of them, she says.
She encourages everyone involved with the tournament to remember that as they help out.
Between 100 and 150 volunteers give their time to help make the tournament possible every year and planning typically starts in October. They do everything from booking ice time to opening and closing the penalty box door during the game and making sure visiting teams have everyting they need.
The tournament features 16 teams including the Scotsburn Dairymen Bantam AAA Crushers, so Wheadon said it draws a lot of people into the county and fills up the hotels.
The first game starts at 1 p.m. in Trenton with TASA facing off against Cape Breton West and in New Glasgow with Dartmouth facing off against Truro. Games continue throughout the weekend.
The first game with the host team is scheduled immediately following the opening ceremonies which begin at 6 p.m. in New Glasgow at the John Brother MacDonald Stadium with the Dairymen facing off against the Cape Breton County Islanders.
All minor hockey players from Pictou County (ages 12 and under) are encouraged to wear their respective team jerseys and come out to cheer on the home team.
Since its inception in 1985, this tournament has featured the top Bantam AAA teams in Atlantic Canada and fans can expect to see some great talent from across the province - the Memorial Tournament 2001 MVP was none other than Sidney Crosby.
Weekend passes for the tournament are $15 and day passes are $5.
Ron Turnbull, the head coach of the 1983/84 team has coached in Pictou County Minor Hockey for over 25 years, and will serve as guest speaker for this year's opening ceremonies.