Penticton’s Young Stars Classic rookie tournament postponed

Bad news, everybody, albeit predictable bad news. The Vancouver Canucks have officially announced that the 2020 edition of the Young Stars Classic tournament has been postponed.

The tournament, hosted by the Canucks in scenic Penticton, B.C., has been postponed to an unspecified date. The Canucks were to be joined by prospects from the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers in a round robin affair. The Flames haven’t participated in the tournament in a few seasons due to the China trip and associated logistical challenges (along with trying their own mini-tournament in Red Deer against the Oilers).

The event was slated to take place in mid-September, but at this point it’s become clear that (a) having fans at this event may be a challenge and (b) the event would take place during the Stanley Cup playoffs. As such, it doesn’t make sense to try it out. Given the likelihood of a very short turnaround between the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs and training camp for the 2020-21 NHL season, it seems probable that the Young Stars tournament won’t take place in 2020 and will instead resume in 2021.

If you’ve never gone to the Penticton camp, do so. It combines the great setting of the B.C. interior (and wine country) with surprisingly competitive hockey between groups of 20-year-olds really looking to make an impression on their team’s management group.