Eagles Gear Up for 27th Annual Purple Puck Tournament

From December 26-30, Gonzaga’s hockey program will host the 27th annual Purple Puck tournament at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Sixteen teams, including top schools from Illinois and Pennsylvania, will compete in the tournament.

The Purple Puck—also known as the National Capital Hockey Tournament—is one of the East Coast’s longest-running high school tournaments in large part due to the hard work of tournament director John Cotten (P ’11). Despite having no hockey tournament experience, Cotten volunteered to assist and eventually take over as the Purple Puck's director during his son’s freshman season.

The Color of Hockey, a blog on the NHL’s website, featured Cotten in an article, which you can read here. "I wanted to see a tournament that was more than about the competition of hockey," Cotten says in the article. "I wanted to see a tournament that was fan-friendly. I wanted to see a bright rink. I wanted to see teams fellowshipping off the ice, and I wanted to see people giving back to the community."

As the tournament approaches, make sure to check its Facebook page for game times, results, and more. Go Eagles!