about lake effect hockey

It all started when…

In 2019, after years of involvement with youth hockey, the decision was made to start a hockey tournament company that would allow our local youth teams two significant benefits:

• Significantly discounted registration fees that would extend cost-savings to our already taxed parents

• Local tournaments that would allow our families to stay in their own beds and not be forced into stay-to-play events that are hours away.

February of 2020 saw the first ever Lake Effect Sarah Backstrom Memorial, one of the longest running all-girls events in North America. In 2020 we had 27 teams from across the country, which was a substantial jump from the 8 teams that participated in 2018 and 17 teams in 2019.

Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we took a risk and capitalized on the cancellation of other tournaments by moving to President’s Day weekend. Despite having to arrange for rapid Covid-19 tests for all of our out-of-state teams, we were able to safely and successfully bring in 48 teams from as far as California and Arizona, without a single positive Covid test! The Sarah Backstrom Tournament continues to grow each year with a record 70 teams in 2023.

In addition to the Sarah Backstrom, our Fall Challenge, Veteran’s Day Showcase and Iceberg Challenge continue to be perenial favorites in the region.

The success of our Lake Effect Tournaments has been recognized both locally and nationally, through our winning awards in 2021 and 2022 from the Erie Sports Commission and Sports Destination Management, respectively, for the economic impact that the Erie community receives from our events.

In addition to tournaments, Lake Effect also runs an annual Elite Camp for AA and AAA players from across the region. Each summer boys and girls ages 9-12 come to Erie for 4 days of high level skill and skating instruction, NHL-style skill competitions and a 4-game round robin tournament with each team coached by a high-level coach or player.

2024 is shaping up to be our biggest year yet, with the announcement of our affiliation with OneHockey Global! Starting in March of 2024, Lake Effect Hockey will be fielding high level teams to participate in tournaments in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic and Hungary! Our coaches will consist of former professional and Olympic hockey players and coaches. Once again, setting the bar in the Great Lakes region!

click the image below for more information on our 2024 european hockey trips!