COLORADO SPRINGS— The Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association hosts the 46th annual tournament this President's Day weekend. This tournament is the biggest tourism weekend all winter long.
The games are free to watch. Click hereand search CSAHA for the weekend's schedule.
About 100 teams and more than 1,500 players are hitting the ice this weekend. The tournament brings in about $2.5 million to the local economy every year.
"Youths sports is pretty much recession-proof, I mean families travel with their kids wherever they're competing," said the Colorado Springs Visitor Center President and CEO Doug Price.
Price said families from out of town are spending money on hotel rooms, food and entertainment. He said he hopes people decide to vacation here in the future.
23 million people came to visit in 2021. About 70 percent of them have been here before.
"Which again solidifies the importance of the customer experience, making everybody feel welcome and welcomed back," said Price.
Hockey players compete against others from as far as Alaska and Florida.
"You're not just playing the same team and knowing how they play every single time so you can still grow and play," said one Tigers player Scarlett Evans.
Whether it's their first or tenth tournament, players look forward to making new friends every year.
"Today's game was really fun and just hanging out with all of the ladies in the locker room and playing with them," said another Tigers player Reagan Gasmire.
Local parents and families welcome out-of-state visitors. One dad who lives in the Springs told me he likes to meet other parents and show them around town.
"It means really that we can be a center that brings people together so that we can all just embrace life through hockey," said David Wagner.
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