COLORADO SPRINGS — The annual President's Day weekend hockey tournament is taking place, bringing families here in Colorado Springs from all over the country and beyond.
We spoke with some of those families about what this tournament means and the process it took to get them on the rink.
We love to hear the local places to eat just because we like to have that local impact on the economy," says Chelsie Palu, a hockey mom from Nebraska.
We wanted to take a look at how these kiddos playing on the ice rinks help our local community.
Several local hotels News5 spoke with over the phone tell me their rooms are booked more than usual this weekend.
We also went downtown to see how a tournament like this impacts local businesses.
For Oscar Blues, they say having more people in the Springs means more customers through their doors.
"It's been a little slower with the cold weather and stuff, so having that peak of people coming into town definitely helps for sure," Taylor Hermann, a bartender at Oscar Blues tells News5.
The 49th year of the championship also came with some challenges. This year the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association wasn’t able to get Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax, or LART money, from the city.
It was one of several longtime community events that had their LART funding cut by City Council this year.
Neesha Lenzini is the tournament director for Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association.
"Last year we got $50,000 from the LART funds because we do bring in so much for hotels and the industry. This year Sports Corp helped by giving us $10,000, but that still was a $40,000 loss of funds that we got last time," she said.
Families we spoke with are just hopeful to see their kids play, and bring home a championship win.
Watch the full story above.
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