Hockey Northwestern Ontario is proud to announce the creation of the Cross Border Challenge
Thunder Bay, February, 2024 Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) in collaboration with Hockey Eastern Ontario (HEO) and Hockey Quebec are set to run a combined Program of Excellence (POE) event (The Cross Border Challenge) at the U14, U15 and U16 levels.
Cross Border Challenge- to Run May 16-19, 2024 at the University of Ottawa
- U14 Competition will consist of 8 teams – 4 teams from Quebec and 3 Teams from HEO and 1 from HNO
- U15 Competition will consist of 4 teams – 2 teams from Quebec and 2 Teams from HEO and HNO (combined)
- U16 Competition will consist of 3 teams – 1 team from Quebec and 2 Teams from HEO and HNO (combined)
- Athletes will participate in 2 on-ice practices led by Hockey Canada Skills Coaches in addition to playing a minimum of 3 games.
The POE is Hockey Canada’s elite development and competitive program that provides players with exposure to international competition concepts and some of the best high-performance coaching in the country. The program is offered by Hockey Northwestern Ontario to start and educate young athletes on the Hockey Canada POE Pathway (U17, U18, U20 and Olympic Teams)
The creation of this event is intended as a first step in enhancing the development of our athletes. Ages 14 to 16 are crucial for the High-Performance progress of the athlete. This will provide our elite athletes exposure to competition and development opportunities outside of HNO, which aligns with similar type programming that is being run in other regions of the country by other Hockey Canada Member Branches.
“We are excited and looking forward to offering an event like this to our High-Performance athletes and staff. We have not attended an event like this since COVID so this will be exciting to for everyone involved. This is also the first time we will be including Quebec in any High-Performance events so this will give all participants and idea on what the skill level is like across the three branches.” said Jim Fetter, Executive Director of Hockey Northwestern Ontario.
Joe Newhouse,
Hockey Northwestern Ontario
