This years memorial festival marks the fourth year since the beginning of the annual event hosted by Bethany's Legacy and all are working hard to ensure 2018 is the best event yet. With the directors of the CIC (Community Interest Company) introducing fresh ideas and new ways of fundraising, this years event will be one not to be missed!
The weekend is planned with the aim to raise awareness and funds for Cardiac arrests and deaths whilst also remembering Bethany-Shannon, who at 3 years old sadly passed away suddenly overnight. This year, the Bethany-Shannon Memorial Ice Hockey Festival will again be held at the Skydome Arena, Coventry, home of the EIHL Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Team and falls on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June 2018. Timings etc will be confirmed nearer to the time of the event, so please keep your eyes peeled for our latest news and updates.
The Bethany-Shannon Memorial Ice Hockey Festival 2018 will follow the same format as the previous 3 years. Saturday features the main event, the 'Memorial Game', in which two teams head to the ice in the hope to win the Bethany-Shannon Memorial Game trophy. Both rosters consist of a selection of EIHL, NIHL and recreational players who all lace their skates and step onto the ice in their teams jersey and compete for the silverware. A full list of the players you can expect to see will be released over the next coming months so be sure to follow the event social media pages that are listed below to stay in the know!
The format of the festival has changed in more ways than one; firstly in the recruitment process and secondly in the format of the game. As you may have seen on Bethany's Legacy's website and social media sites, this year saw the start of a new event for all involved. Bethany's Legacy Challenge Cup began in January 2018, in which 6 teams play games against each other in a league format over a season. As a means of thanking the players, teams and coaches of those participating for the work they are putting into raising money and awareness for Bethany's Legacy, the directors came to the decision of allocating a proportion of the memorial game player slots to those who are part of the teams competing in the Challenge Cup. This will, of course, be opened up to all players after a period of time. Each year has seen a high demand of players wanting to participate, and it is hoped that this year is the same, so please do not hesitate in completing a recruitment form if you are interested in playing in the memorial game.
As well as this, Bethany's Legacy have changed the two teams that play in this game. Each year, teams have been referred to under the names of 'Team Bethany' and 'Team Shannon'. This year, following the suggestion from Sophie Preston, Bethany-Shannon's younger sister, these names have been given a slight make over. Sophie confirmed that the new team names will be 'Bethany's Blazers' and 'Shannon's Lions'. Fantastic team names, Soph! Being the main event of the weekend, the memorial game will take place on Saturday 9th June 2018 at 16:45.
Following the memorial game, the Bethany-Shannon Memorial Ice Hockey Tournament will begin. As last year, the tournament will feature 10 recreational ice hockey teams, however this year, teams are competing for two trophies, as opposed to one in the previous years. All participating teams will be split into two groups and will play a 'round robin' format. The top two teams in each group will play for the 'Bethany Cup', whilst the 3rd and 4th placed teams will play-off for the Shannon Shield, leaving the 5th placed teams in each group eliminated from the competition.
As mentioned above, this years festival will be exciting and is one the directors, along with all their supportive volunteers, are looking forward to hosting. Bethany's Legacy are also very excited to inform you that they are now a CIC (Community Interest Company), which will see some changes to the format of their fundraising.
Follow the events facebook page 'Bethany-Shannon Ice Hockey Festival 2018', twitter page 'bethanyslegacy' or instagram page 'bethanyslegacyx' to be in the know of all the latest news and updates!
Photo credit: Mark Hollingsworth, Aimee Hollingsworth.
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