ONE SURE reminder that winter sports are upon us is hearing from neighbors about those wee-hour treks to various skating rinks for hockey. And, this being Thanksgiving time, that means the annual renewal next weekend of the Columbia Huskies' Silver Skate Tournament at three area venues.
Regional Silver Skate events for youth players are conducted throughout this country and Canada each year, with the most successful teams eventually playing in Canada for titles that really indicate prowess at the sport's youth level.
The tournament is a boon to local hotels and restaurants. Each team has 15 to 20 players, along with parents, siblings and other followers.
This year's Columbia-based tournament will be the largest ever in terms of teams entered, said Columbian Bob Masiulis, the tournament director. And getting the record 58 age-group teams to commit took more doing than expected, mainly because of the turmoil and uncertainty caused by the Montgomery County/Virginia sniper deaths.
"Teams had to commit to traveling during that period," Masiulis said, "and it definitely slowed registrations. People were uncertain about coming into this area, and we understood that. We know that some teams that would have come to our event went elsewhere. We were hoping for 60 teams, but we're happy with 58."
This year's entries include teams from as far away as Pittsburgh and Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C., the latter club sending five age-group entries. Competition will change some because no New York teams are entered this time. Teams are guaranteed three games, and those that advance past the group level might play as many as five.
This fall, the Huskies also conducted their B-level Silver Skate event, for less experienced teams -- and that tournament brought 40 teams to this area.
Credit goes to the Huskies, because like the Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County and its annual Memorial Day tournament, the organization conducts its main event over Thanksgiving weekend, knowing that chances of its own teams winning are remote at some levels, to be blunt.
"Part of the draw for our tournament is the level of competition," Masiulis said. "It's really stiff sometimes. You play teams that you don't ordinarily see, and it's a chance to have to play at a higher level, and you always can learn from that."
One warning for visitors: Masiulis said he expects the Huskies' under-16 team to be highly competitive this year. In hockey parlance, that would be the "midgets," a tag those high-schoolers would just as soon ignore.
Play begins at 7 a.m. Friday (see what we meant by "early morning treks"?) at Columbia Ice Rink in of Oakland Mills village and just a bit into Prince George's County at Gardens Ice House, 13800 Old Gunpowder Road in Laurel. Those rinks and Piney Orchard in Odenton all will have schedules. Finals will be played Dec. 1.
If you want more information or to track your neighbor's kids' results, check www.howard huskies.org on the Internet.
Along the sidelines
Soccer: Siri Mullinix, the Washington Freedom's goalkeeper, will be bartending Tuesday evening in Clarksville to benefit the Claudia Mayer Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
The function will be held at the Luna-C Grille in River Hill Village Center, starting at 6 p.m. The Women's United Soccer Association standout may be joined by a couple of other Freedom players, said Louise Waxler of Columbia, who works with the professional team and also is behind the Claudia Mayer Foundation, which also benefits from an annual springtime tournament of college women's teams. Invited from last season's WUSA runner-up, were Jen Grubb and Anne Makinen.
Tips and proceeds will go to the foundation's work, which honors a late Columbian who was active in youth soccer. Raffles and a silent auction also will generate revenue for the group.
Sports car racing: Guy Pavageau, the Columbia owner/driver of cars in four types of racing whom we profiled some weeks ago, finished seventh in his first trip to true national competition.
But Pavageau is more fascinated by what he called a favorable response at the races to having emblazoned the name of the Alzheimer's Foundation -- a small, research-oriented group -- on his car as a way of honoring his father's memory.
That act got him unexpected but welcome attention, he said, from a crew taping the races for the SPEEDvision cable network. A producer told him that a relative had died from the disease, too. Result: Despite his modest but satisfying racing result, you can spot Pavageau's race periodically these days on that cable outlet.
Women's basketball: We mentioned on this page recently that the first women's basketball league in the county will begin competition in the new year. And, almost predictably, that "first" was wrong, maybe, we've been told. Maybe there was a league in the late 1960s or early 1970s that spun off a county softball league, then folded. Except we have no details. Any former women's basketball league players out there who can help?
Anyone have suggestions about interesting people, teams, or aspects of any winter sport? It can be sports for kids, older "kids," even seniors. Call the writer at 410- 332- 6525 or send an e-mail to lowell.sunderland@balt sun.com.