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Tony Roman Memorial Hockey Tournament (TRMHT)
The Tony Roman Memorial Hockey Tournament (TRMHT) was first played in 1974. Teams from the house leagues of the Markham Minor Hockey Association, Thornhill Community Hockey League and Unionville Minor Hockey Association compete in the Mayor’s Cup, initiated by the late Anthony Roman. In honour of Tony Roman’s enthusiasm for this event, the tournament was re-named the Tony Roman Memorial Hockey Tournament.
The purpose of the TRMHT is to provide house league players with an opportunity to compete in a tournament. Through this type of competition, the participants have an opportunity to experience and develop a sense of the different communities within the Town of Markham.
In 2011, 134 teams participated in the competition, 41 teams from Markham Minor Hockey Association, 43 teams from the Thornhill Community Hockey League and 50 teams from the Unionville Minor Hockey Association. The schedule of 242 hockey games, with over 2,000 young hockey players participating, is known as the world’s largest house league hockey competition.
Understanding the TRMHT Results
In Canada, minor hockey is run by Hockey Canada. The Ontario branch of Hockey Canada is called the Ontario Hockey Federation. Both the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) and the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) are members of the Ontario Hockey Federation.
The Unionville Minor Hockey Association (UMHA) and the Markham Minor Hockey Association (MMHA) are part of the OMHA. The Thornhill Community Hockey League (TCHL) is part of the GTHL. The OMHA and the GTHL have differences in terms of how their levels are hockey are organized.
In the OMHA, select level hockey is only available for players up to tyke. The UMHA obtains special permission from the OMHA annually to ice select teams (the Unionville Jets) at higher levels than tyke and these teams play in the GTHL.
Starting in novice, “rep” hockey, consisting of AE, A, AA and AAA levels, is available in the OMHA. In rep level hockey, including AE, players do not play in house league.
In the GTHL, rep level hockey does not start until Minor Atom. As well, the GTHL does not have AE rep level hockey, but does have select level hockey (which is often considered the equivalent of AE rep hockey) at all ages. Select players must also play house league. The result is that there are a lot of select players participating in the Tony Roman Tournament on TCHL teams. This may have a tendency to increase the skill level of TCHL house league teams.
Given the differing levels of hockey available in the OMHA and the GTHL at the same division, the relative strength of house league teams will vary greatly, especially in the novice division where rep level hockey has not started in the TCHL, but has started in the UMHA and MMHA.
The Tony Roman Tournament is a “town” based tournament. This means that the three associations come together to play in the Tony Roman Tournament despite belonging to different members of the Ontario Hockey Federation and having differing programs as outlined above.
We hope that by explaining the differences between the UMHA, MMHA and the TCHL, we will help our members to better understand the results of the Tony Roman Tournament.
TRMHT Survey Results
Early in the 2010/2011 season, the Unionville Minor Hockey Association emailed a survey about the Tony Roman Tournament to its membership. The survey was sent to 1,155 email addresses representing 818 members registered with the UMHA. We received responses from 216 members, which is 26% of our membership.
Overall, the survey results indicate that our membership wants to continue to participate in the Tony Roman Tournament and that the majority of participants find the Tournament to be a positive experience. Competing and participating are most important for 96% of our members. Only 3% of members taking part in the survey indicated that winning was the most important part of the Tournament.
Our membership overwhelmingly supports the use of the three goal rule in all divisions based on the response to Question 6. This position was taken to the Tony Roman Tournament Committee and for the 2011 Tournament, the three goal rule was extended to include the Tyke and Novice Divisions in addition to the Mite Division as in past years. We will continue to push for the institution of the three goal rule in all divisions in future Tournaments.
In addition, for the 2011 Tournament, there is a separate Tyke Division which means that our Tyke teams do not have to play against Novice teams as has been the case in past years.
Please note that comments submitted by the UMHA members are not included here for privacy reasons, but the UMHA Board has reviewed the comments and will use them as the basis to advocate for future improvements to the Tony Roman Tournament.
A big thank you goes to all members who participated in this survey!
