Forum All Star Tournament 2012

It’s May, which means we’ve all gone without Top level ice hockey for over a month after the fantastic occasion that is the Play-Off Finals Weekend. The rumours are many, the signings are coming and the rosters are slowly growing, but surely that isn’t quite quenching your thirst for the fast, exciting and physical sport right?

Well we might have something before the Red Army deploys in September to quench your thirst, the UK Forum All Stars tournament. The event has been held in the Devils infamous Big Blue Tent in 2010, and this July it’s back supporting a Six charities, breaking the record of the previous four instalments.

For those of you who do not know much about the tournament, I’ll give you a brief insight.

* Players from all over the country raise money for a charity and then play for a team that represents that charity in the event

* Players from previous tournaments are given their own priority registration window before it is open to the public.

* Each team has players of various skill levels from your Simmsey’s who have never played before to your Steve Moria’s who have played the game for what seems like centuries.

* Teams play a round robin to decide the top two teams who then compete for the trophy with the remaining teams fighting it out in the plate competition.

* Rosters are drafted by a team of (Biased) event organisers and these organisers write the rules of play weeks before the event takes place. Until conditions mean they need to change them.

* The main rule is that we all have fun.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking, it’s nothing serious just a few scrimmages. You couldn’t be further from the truth. The last event in Cardiff was won by one goal and the passion both teams displayed was unbelievable. Everybody wants to win the trophy whether it’s just to have a feeling of pride or to have the bragging rights for the next year, or in my case two years to organiser Mr Grant’s dismay.

As I’ve said people come from all over the country from Dundee to Bournemouth to play, watch, help with functions, or just make sure the event run smoothly and it’s a great weekend to socialise with other hockey fans and to get your family fix of (not so) high energy and (extremely) passionate games and you’ll probably recognise a few of your fellow Devils fans amongst the players making fools of themselves and we wouldn’t want you to miss that would we?

The charities being represented this year consist of Help For Heroes, Breast Cancer care, Prostate Cancer Care, Dreams Come True, Devils Community Foundation/Players Benevolent Fund and my own team Ty-Hafan. More details about the event and individual charities can be found on http://www.ukfallstars.co.uk/

Last year in Sheffield we raised a massive £12,500 for our four charities and hundreds of people turned up to watch at IceSheffield. This year we want to smash that target and pack out the BBT with the loudest ice hockey fans in the country on the 14th-15th of July.

More from me as we edge closer to the event, for news updates like them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/UK-Forums ... 900?ref=ts or follow @ukfallstars on Twitter

Until then, enjoy the sunshine!