ESTEVAN - The Estevan Flamethrowers senior men's team hosted an adult basketball tournament at the Estevan Comprehensive School last weekend.
For the first time in two years, the Flamethrowers were able to invite other teams for a tournament, which was also a fundraiser. The tournament has been going on for over 10 years, and Mike Grobbink, who is a part of the Flamethrowers team, said it was good to have it back after the hiatus.
"It went really well. All the teams had a good time. We had a social on Friday night at the Beefeater. And everybody said they really enjoyed themselves," Grobbink said. "This was just a chance to get back together and hopefully get things going again."
Players from Estevan, Fort Qu'Appelle, Indian Head, Moose Jaw, Lloydminster, Regina, Calgary and other communities started competing Friday evening, and the final game took place on Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Wolf Pac, consisting of Saskatchewan players from different communities, won the final game against Quaranteam from Regina 110-103.
"It was a real good game," Grobbink said.
The three Estevan teams were the Flamethrowers, Left Overs and Junk Yard Dogs, which consisted of a mixture of players from Estevan and Calgary. On Friday, the Flamethrowers played the Left Overs in a very tight opening game, which they lost by four. Their next intense game against Brick Layers came to an end with an 83-57 victory. Then they took the consolation final against Fort Qu'Appelle's United brothers 85-56.
The Left Overs lost to Junk Yard Dogs in the third-place game.
The tournament also served as a fundraiser for local basketball initiatives. Besides the entry fee, the organizers had a Calcutta for a three-point competition on the last day of the tournament and a silent auction Saturday night, with items donated by local businesses. Grobbink didn't have the tally of the money raised at the time of the interview, but he said that all proceeds from the event will go towards Estevan's basketball programs.
The tournament usually was the last event of the basketball season, but this year, there were hardly any events to participate in due to COVID. Now that things are changing back to how they used to be, the organizers and participants hope that they will get more opportunities to play and compete later on in the year.
"Usually, we play throughout the winter, and then this is the end tournament. It was hard to get people out to come and play this year because of COVID and the masks and everything like that. So we just had this to try to get things going again so that in the fall, people will get out and start coming again. And then we'll try to plan tournaments for next year to go to," Grobbink said.
He also thanked the tournament organizers for putting the event together.
"The event was organized by the Flamethrowers, and I just want to say thanks to Rob Gallaway and Dustin Wilson and the rest of the guys that helped out with all the organizing and setting up the gym and everything like that, and Rob Andrist. They were a big help," Grobbink said.
