As most people prepare for Christmas, volunteers in Petrolia and Central Lambton are getting ready for the annual regional Silver Stick Tournaments.

Both Petrolia and Alvinston will be hosting events through the Christmas holidays.

Mike Krall is one of the organizers of the 46^th Annual Earle Trevail Silver Stick in Petrolia. He says 19 teams will begin tournament play on Dec. 27.

This year, Krall says, all teams will be from the region because of a rule change. “If a team wants to come to the tournament out of their own region, they have to get permission,” he says “That’s new this year, they actually have to stay within the boundry,”

Krall says there are three fewer teams coming to Petrolia this year, partly he suspects because some teams don’t wish to play over Christmas vacation. But he says the number of teams is also decreasing. “A number of centers have amalgamated,” he says citing Watford and Alvinston as an example. “We used to get both those teams, now we get one.”

The tournament takes a lot of volunteers to run. The organizing committee alone is 20 volunteers. People with children in minor hockey also volunteer to jobs such as the admission, selling programs, and announcing goals.

The rink in Alvinston will also be busy starting Dec. 26. The opening ceremonies of the 24^th Annual Alvinston Atom tourney is Friday at 5:40 pm and the final games will be played Monday Dec. 30.