USA Hockey Adult Hockey

The Anaheim Ducks are always looking for ways to connect with the community and their fans.

So when Champ Baginski, the Ducks’ fan development director, heard about an adult hockey tournament hosted by the New York Rangers, he had a thought: Why don’t the Ducks start a similar tournament and jazz it up a little bit?

That’s exactly what Baginski cooked up with the help of USA Hockey.

In the tournament’s first year in 2011, seven teams signed up. The word started to spread, and now the Throw-Back Classic is in full swing. Entering the Classic’s fifth year in 2015, the registration filled up in just two weeks with 65 teams signing up.

“We probably could have gotten 100 teams,” Baginski said, also noting that all 44 teams that competed in 2014 signed up again for 2015.

The fifth annual Throw-Back Classic will be held Feb 13-16, 2015, at four rinks owned by the Ducks: Anaheim Ice, Lakewood Ice, Westwinster Ice and Yorba Linda Ice.

The Rangers’ Skate to the Garden tournament lasted just three years. After the three years, the Ducks were just getting rolling. The Throw-Back Classic has already become the largest adult hockey tournament in California.

“When I started this I never had any visions of this just blowing up later,” Baginski said. “Heck, I was excited the first year to have seven teams. I didn’t think we’d get anywhere near that. It just blows my mind, and it’s just exciting to see there’s that many adult hockey players that are interested in tournaments.”

The tournament attracts players from all over the country. Baginski estimates 50 percent of the participants hail from California. However, teams from Alaska, Texas, Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and even France have played in the tournament.

“It blows my mind how all these guys find out about it, yet alone they’re registering for it,” said Baginski, who said he would like to start attracting some East Coast teams.

Said Ashley Bevan, USA Hockey’s Senior Director of Adult Hockey: “The Ducks and USA Hockey’s adult program together have shown that successful adult hockey programming with our NHL partners is beneficial for both organizations and most importantly the adult membership.”

Ken Hughes, a Nome, Alaska, native, heads down to Southern California every year to participate in the Throw-Back Classic. The 56-year-old tries to play in a couple tournaments each season, including the Anchorage Adult Classic.

“One tournament wasn’t enough for me, so I just started looking around to find another tournament on the West Coast, and that one popped in a search,” said Hughes about the Throw-Back Classic. “I took a look at it and it seemed like it was fun. Sure enough, it is.”

Baginski helped Hughes get set up with some teammates to play with in the tournament. Hughes’ team, OC Lokomotiv, is mostly comprised of California players.

Hughes said he enjoys the Throw-Back Classic because the Ducks make it a unique experience for all the participants. Along with playing a minimum of three games in the first couple days of the tournament — the semifinals and finals are held on Monday at Anaheim Ice, the practice facility for the Ducks — participants are given a number of gifts, including a hooded zip-up jacket, a ticket to a Ducks game and an invitation to the kickoff party.

“Everything we do is about the player,” Baginski said. “Whether it’s the customized socks and jerseys you get at the beginning or whether it’s the food and beverages after each game or the kickoff party, customer service is what we’re all about. I think that’s why most of the players have continued to play in the tournament every year. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Anaheim Ducks are attached to it and that [participating teams] can potentially play against the alumni team.”

The Ducks’ alumni team plays the winner of the A division, which is the top division. Some guys who have played for the alumni team in past years include Scott Niedermayer, Todd Marchant, Todd Pronger, Guy Hebert and Craig Johnson.

The Ducks give out various prizes, including a suite to a Ducks game, signed jerseys of Ducks players, a shopping spree at the retail store HockeyGiant and entry into the tournament the following year.

For the Throw-Back Classic in 2015, there will be six divisions, A-F, with A being the toughest. Baginski noted that of the 65 teams in the tournament, 24 will play in the E division. Splitting up the teams into more divisions — there were four divisions in 2014 — will help ensure teams will play similar skill-set opponents.

“That’s one of the nice things about this tournament is that it’s greatly expanded the divisions, which should make for a large amount of parity for the teams,” Hughes said.

Baginski is trying to improve the setup and competitive nature of the tournament every year.

“With 1,000-plus players in the tournament, it’s extremely hard to make sure everybody’s in the right division, but I think this year we’ve taken active steps to make it better,” he said. “We’ve got USA Hockey involved and taken steps ourselves to make it a little bit more competitive.”

Currently, Anaheim is the only franchise in the NHL that runs an adult hockey tournament. Baginski is surprised there aren’t other teams that take advantage of offering a hockey tournament for their fans.

“It blows my mind that they don’t,” Baginski said. “It’s just a win-win situation.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.