WHY YOUR TEAM SHOULD COME TO A SHOWDOWN TOURNAMENT 

The Harrington Family would like to personally thank you for visiting Showdown Tournaments website.  As you read in our history link, hockey tournaments have been in the Harrington family since 1972.  Throughout the years and into the future Showdown Tournaments promises to make each teams experience fun and competitive.  We realize that teams have many different tournaments to choose and the selection process can be overwhelming, but at Showdown Tournaments quality ranks first.   Throughout the years Showdown Tournaments has developed sophisticated processes and methods for screening applicants, building tournament divisions, scheduling, communicating, and handling logistical aspects such as your hotel accommodations, tourist opportunities, and event management during tournament play.  The list below represents our top priorities, and the factors that you should consider when choosing a Showdown Tournament 

Well Organized

Showdown Tournaments has learned over the years that keeping the tournaments well organized makes it easier and fun for everyone participating.   Showdown Tournaments begins to organize your team’s tournament experience the day it receives your application.  Showdown Tournaments performs a multitude of tasks to make your tournament experience enjoyable.  Some of those task include conducting a comprehensive screen of each teams caliber of play, reviewing the eligibility of the players on each participating team, securing hotel arrangements for each out of town team, scheduling USA certified referees, creating the official game schedule, organizing tournament staff and helpers, preparing a tournament guide, and much more.  

One month prior to the tournament each team receives a personalized tournament information guide.  The guide informs each team about the registration process at the rinks, the final game schedule, tournament rules and format, tournament activities like the Showdown Olympics and Pin Exchange, directions to/from hotels and rinks, and more.  Further, we give each family an opportunity to show their team spirit through well wishes and good luck banners in the tournament program, as well as, the opportunity for each team to pre-order tournament souvenirs at discounted prices.  We take the burden of distributing this information to your parents by making all of this information available on our website.  

At the tournament, teams seldom have questions since everything has been well planned out before your team’s arrival.  Registration will be your main responsibilty where team coaches, managers, and players sign in to validate participation.  Registration will only take a few minutes of your time and then your team is ready to relax and enjoy themselves for the weekend.  All games run at their scheduled times and there are no curfews.  The tournament activities, Showdown Olympics and Pin Exhange may seem overwhelming upon arrival but once your team hits the ice the events run like clockwork.  Our professional and seasoned staff is there all weekend to make your experience most enjoyable and memorable.  

Team Placement Process (Balanced Divisions)

A well organized tournament really begins with the placement of the teams into balanced and competitive divisions.  Showdown Tournaments takes ever effort to ensure it first understands each team’s level of play in its own league before matching them up with teams from other leagues.  Competitive classification systems (AA, A, A1, A2, B, B1, B2, C, House Select, and house) vary or have different meanings from area to area throughout the United States.  Because of this variance your team will encounter teams that may have different eligibility rules or classification systems that may not necessarily correspond to what you are accustomed to in your particular area. 

Showdown Tournaments also consider the competitive level of teams within their own league.  For example, a team participating in the Capital Beltway Hockey League at the Squirt A level is in last place out of 6 teams.  When analyzing their games, we learn they are not only in last place but consistently losing each game by five or more goals.  This team has a high potential of moving from the A division to the B division of our tournament.  To make our decisions, we utilize records available on various internet sites, the team record form submitted with your application, phone interviews with team managers and coaches, conversations with other teams in your league and outside your league, and the hockey community at large.  

This effort takes countless hours, but the results are very rewarding!   

Game Schedule

Showdown Tournaments issues a final game schedule once it has completed the team placement process.  This occurs approximately four weeks prior to the tournament event to ensure each team has adequate time to plan their hockey and extracurricular activities.  Schedules seldom change since Showdown Tournaments puts game schedules through a rigorous validation process before issuing them to the teams, rinks, and referees.  The schedule does consider travel distance, time gaps between games, and an even distribution of morning, afternoon, and evening games.  Also age does factor into the later games slots, which mostly are filled by the bantam teams.   

Tournament Staff

Showdown Tournaments provides experienced and knowledgeable staff at each rink for registering teams, scorekeeping games, conducting special events like the Showdown Olympics and Pin Exchange, tracking scores and team placement, and to answer general tournament questions.  Each rink will have a head tournament director always present to address specific tournament questions and address any issues that may arise during the tournament. 

Referees

Showdown tournaments uses referees certified and trained under USA Hockey and affiliated with a local referee association.   The head referee chooses from level 1, 2, 3 and 4 referees and matches them to the appropriate age groups and levels.  There are many more level 1 and 2 referees than 3 and 4.  Many of the level 1 and 2 referees are new to the game and learning.  The level 1 and 2 referees typically do the mite and squirt and games, however, they are often matched with higher level referees to officiate peewee and bantams.  Showdown Tournament relies upon referees to provide coaches official answer to questions regarding rules of play.  We stand behind all referee decisions meaning the tournament directors will not overrule the referee’s decision!   

Host Rinks

Showdown Tournaments selects the most convenient and well run rinks in the area to host our tournaments.  Well managed rinks play a key role in keeping the tournaments running on time and providing clean and safe environments to host our activities. Every rink used by Showdown Tournaments has warming facilities, a snack bar, a pro shop, and plenty of parking.  Directions to all of the rinks are available on our website for you to navigate from home or the hotel to the rink. 

Host Hotels

Showdown Tournaments secures hotel accommodations for all of it’s out of town guests at the best locations in the area at affordable rates.  The host hotels provide complimentary hospitality space or already have sitting lounges for the teams to gather during their stay.  The hotels are conveniently located to all of the rinks and have a multitude of restaurants and shopping centers at your convenience.  It’s imperative that you understand that each host hotel supports the cost of the tournament.  Absent their support there would be no tournament!  In return for their support, all of our guests stay at the host hotels at a discounted group rate.   

Trophies and Giveaways

Each player participating in the tournament receives a unique souvenir to hold onto their tournament memories for years to come.  Each team advancing to the championship game receives individual trophies and the championship team receives a banner to put on display for everyone to see at their home rink.  At the Showdown Olympics players receive customized gold, silver, and bronze medals for first, second, and third place. 

Tournament Activities

Showdown Tournaments provides all players two fun filled events outside of the regular tournaments games. The Showdown Olympics has been a highlight at each Showdown Tournament with many great memories for all the teams.  It offers a unique experience for team building while having fun.  The competition is organized to allow each player on every team to participate in at least one event.  The Showdown Olympic events provide teams with a less serious atmosphere and are designed to be fun.  The events include the Showdown, Rapid Fire, Speed Challenge, and the Showdown Relay.  The teams within each group will compete against one another for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Olympic Medals.  The Pin Exchange is a great opportunity for teams to trade or exchange pins or other keepsakes with the teams in tournament.  It also provides teams the opportunity to engage in off-ice conversation and make new friends and contacts. We encourage all teams to participate in the Showdown Olympics and Pin Exchange to make the most of your tournament experience.   

Programs and Keepsakes

We invite all participants and their families to put in the tournament program well wishes and good luck advertisements for the players or their teams.  You can put as little as a one liner or up to a full page.  The tournament program will include all of the players names and jersey numbers, game schedule, rules, format, local advertisements, as well as your personalized well wishes and good luck advertisements. The program is a great way to make the program a memorable souvenir.  Prior to coming to the tournament all teams will have an opportunity to pre-order souvenirs at discounted prices.  At the tournament the souvenirs will be at the regular price.  Souvenirs include pins (several unique styles), tournament t-shirts, hockey necklaces, mini hockey sticks, jewelry, and more.  

         REGISTER TODAY FOR A SHOWDOWN TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE!