Andrew J. Gauthier Hockey Festival set for February

Matt Metcalf
Posted 1/22/15

The Andrew J. Gauthier Hockey Festival is entering its eighth year in 2015 and has become the most well-known tradition around the Warwick Hockey community.

As someone who grew up playing hockey …

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Andrew J. Gauthier Hockey Festival set for February

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The Andrew J. Gauthier Hockey Festival is entering its eighth year in 2015 and has become the most well-known tradition around the Warwick Hockey community.

As someone who grew up playing hockey and baseball with and against Andrew, I honestly can’t believe it’s been eight years.

He was truly a great person and athlete and those who loved him are what keep the event going year-in and year-out.

Andrew played with Warwick Junior Hockey and went on to play at Toll Gate before he died in 2007 due to complications from leukemia. That same year, Andrew’s parents, Bob and Kathy, and his brother, Bobby, set out to create an event in Andrew’s honor. They had plenty of help from the tight-knit hockey community, and the hockey festival was born.

It’s just a great weekend of hockey, built around a good cause. All proceeds from the event go to the Andrew J. Gauthier Scholarship Fund, which presents scholarships every year to Warwick student-athletes.

Over the past seven years, the Fund has awarded more than $10,000 to student-athletes in the city of Warwick.

This year’s festival will take place on February 13, 14 and 15 – not only at Thayer Arena, but at Brown University as well.

The schedule is not completely official as of yet, but the plan is to have games on Friday and Saturday at Brown, while also playing games at Thayer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s festival will be sponsored by Hockey Essentials, which is a hockey scouting and showcasing organization out of New Jersey. Andrew’s brother, Bobby, currently works for Hockey Essentials.

The festival will be comprised of various teams, both from the midget and high school levels.

The high school teams from Rhode Island that have committed to play in the festival are Prout, Smithfield, Toll Gate, Pilgrim, Warwick Co-op girls and Narragansett.

There is also a strong group of midget teams – North Jersey Avalanche U18, which is Bobby’s team, North Jersey Avalanche U16, Northern Mass Cyclones U18, Connecticut Rangers U18, Providence Capitals U16 and the Junior Bruins U16.

When the official schedule for the festival becomes available, it will be posted in the Beacon.

The event will also feature raffles, merchandise sales and the always-popular chuck-a-puck games. Anyone wishing to contribute to the scholarship fund can make a donation at the event.

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