AUBURN - It was a weekend spent on the ice for the Auburn Ice Hawks.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Auburn's Squirt and Bantam hockey teams hosted teams from Elmira, Binghamton, Batavia, Syracuse and Canada in the 30th annual Thanksgiving Tournament.

Steve Byrne, the tournament's director and coach of the Squirt team, has been involved with the Thanksgiving Tournament for 17 years.

Reflecting on all the years, Byrne was impressed with the strong response and interest the tournament has garnered from teams from all over the region, making for an exciting weekend of hockey.

“It has been great,” Byrne said. “Everyone had a lot of fun. We had some great games. There was a lot of camaraderie and a lot of new friends made. I think everything went really well.”

All of this was made possible through the work of many people.

Byrne said that NUCOR served as the major sponsor and that numerous parents volunteered their time to make the tournament possible.

“A lot of hard work goes into this,” Byrne said. “Parents are here Wednesday decorating and getting ready for this. Our chairmen, Kim Corcoran and Chris Morhiser, did a great job and put a lot into getting all the raffles and everything together this year. We couldn't do all of this without the volunteers and all the sponsors, like NUCOR, that make it possible for us to do these tournaments and make this a great weekend for everyone.”

While there was a lot of work off the ice just to get ready for the three-day event, there was just as much work being done on the ice.

While none of Auburn's teams were able to make it to the championship round, Byrne said that every team played with determination.

In the first round, each team played three games. Depending on how they fared, each team was awarded points, with a possible total of 15 points to be earned in the first round. There was also a second round and the championship round.

By Sunday, Elmira, Batavia and the teams from Canada had secured their spots in the championship round.

But throughout the weekend, Auburn played well against some strong competition.

“We played well,” Byrne said. “There were no sloppy games. Every game was hard-fought and all of our kids played well.”

Heading into the tournament, the Squirts were playing some of their best hockey, with a record of 6-1-2.

“There were no easy games,” Byrne said. “They were all very competitive. You had the top four teams in the league here and that made things very competitive. That is what we like.”

Byrne also said the Bantam squad competed well throughout the weekend.

“The teams from Canada and Batavia were really good,” he said. “But our Bantams played well and it was really good competition that we saw from all the teams.”

And while Auburn was unable to make it to the championship, Byrne believes there is a lot to be gained from the experience of a competing in a three-day tournament.

“We like good competition,” Byrne said. “That is what we like to see. When you play with this level of competition from all these teams, you are going to learn and it is going to teach you and it is going to make you play better. We don't ever want to play weak teams. We want stiff competition and that is what we had here all weekend.”