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The Mac's Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament is a prestigious ice hockey tournament held annually for midget aged players in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. First held in 1978 as the CP Challenge Cup, the tournament features 25 male and 15 female teams from across Canada, the United States and Europe.
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The current 2014 male champions are the Cariboo Cougars. The current female champions are the Saskatoon Stars.
The Mac's tourney is held every year beginning on Boxing Day, and concluding with the male and female championship games on New Years Day at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The championship game has been held in front of as many as 10,000 spectators, while tournament games see as many as 3,000 fans per game, the largest crowds many of the players will have played in front of at that point of their careers. Overall, the tournament draws as many as 100,000 spectators over seven days.
Match games are played at several Calgary arenas with the Max Bell Centre being the primary facility. Games are also held at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena and Flames Community Arenas.
Many participants of the Mac's tourney have gone on to play in the National Hockey League. These players are recognized by Mac's tourney officials by having their photos added to the tournaments wall of fame at the Max Bell Centre.
On January 2, 1989, Petr Nedved, playing for a Litvínov based team, left his hotel room in the middle of the night and walked into a Calgary police station declaring his intention to defect from Czechoslovakia.
Tournament format
The Mac's tourney is broken into five pools of five teams in the male division, and three pools of five teams in the female division. Teams face each of their opponents in their pool in a round robin format before moving to a single elimination knockout format to determine a champion. In the male division, each pool winner, plus three wild cards advance to the quarter-finals. In the female division, each pool winner plus one wild card advances to the semi-finals.
Each pool is "hosted" by a Calgary area team. All five male teams - the Calgary Flames, Royals, Northstars and Buffaloes, as well as the Strathmore UFA Bisons play league games in the Alberta Midget Hockey League. The two female hosts are the Calgary Fire and Rocky Mountain Raiders. The remaining teams are invited to participate from midget leagues across Canada, the United States and Europe for a total of 40 participants.
Female division
The female division was added in 2004
Wall of Fame
The following is a partial list of Mac's tourney alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL.