Perani’s Capital Cup offers chance for house teams to experience an elite tournament

By @MichaelCaples –

It seems like almost every week during the hockey season, elite travel hockey teams are playing in prestigious tournaments in memorable locations.

Thanks to Perani’s Hockey World, some house hockey players are getting that same opportunity.

The Capital Cup tournament – open to squirt, pee wee and bantam ‘B’ teams – begins its second edition this November, with games being played at Suburban Ice East Lansing and The Summit in Lansing. The big highlight, however, is that the championship games are played at Munn Ice Arena, home of the Michigan State Spartans.

“This is the second year putting the event on, and it is the most kid-friendly hockey tournament that is out there,” said Robert Perani, Jr., co-owner of the famed equipment retailer. “It’s exclusive to house teams that are ‘B’ teams. We want to give them the experience that travel teams get. There’s a three-game guarantee and the dates are Nov. 20-22.

“The great thing is we were able to secure Munn Arena, so the championship is at Munn Arena. For kids, I had the opportunity when I was young to play at Joe Louis Arena, and to play inside of a big arena, there’s no other experience. And a lot of the house kids, not to have that experience, this is giving that to them and it’s something they’re going to remember forever.”

Perani’s entered into the tournament business in 2014 for more than just securing a few games at Munn for some youngsters, however. The Capital Cup raises money for the Kris Perani Hockey Foundation, a cause named for Robert’s mother.

“This was another way for us to promote my mom’s foundation,” Perani said. “My mom’s foundation keeps kids in the game of hockey. There’s an application process, and you get that application from the Kris Perani Hockey Foundation website. What we do is, based on financial need, we cover a percentage of the child’s ice bill and season cost. In the past, we’ve had applicants all the way in San Diego, California to New Jersey and everywhere in between – the majority of them being in Michigan. We wanted a different way to get the name out there and so actually during the tournament, the foundation will award a sponsor one tournament participant for the entire hockey season, the 2015-16 hockey season. It’s a grassroots initiative on our executive side, because we want kids to play hockey.”

Perani wants to make sure as many kids experience the sport as possible, no matter their financial situation.

“The kids that are playing the house league, not travel, are not very serious, this might be their secondary sport or this is just more recreational fun for them, so giving them the experience, saying, ‘Hey, this is fun, this can be fun without all the seriousness,” but at the same time, they may play house because it’s all they can financially bear. This event gives us the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, there is a foundation out there, if it comes down to gas and food on the table versus an ice bill and taking a kid out of hockey, there’s a foundation out there that says, ‘Hey keep your kid into hockey, apply, and we can help you with the cost of the season.’”

He also said that Year 1 of the Capital Cup was a resounding success.

“Year 1 was a near-sellout for the tournament,” Perani said. “The tournament, overall, initial response, many of the coaches actually wanted to sign up for Year 2 following the tournament because they said it was the best tournament experience they ever had, so it was overwhelmingly positive. All of the kids, they get gift bags as part of the tournament registration. Last year’s gift bags were cinch sacks with Gatorade juice, water bottles, Bauer items inside the gift bags, so it wasn’t just a simple little towel. We had free Gatorade for the kids to grab after games. Bauer sponsored it. The trophy for the division was a gold-metallic or chrome helmet.

“The presentation and just everything from the trophy down to what the kids got from Bauer…overall, the kids got treated like they were first-class all the way around.”

To register for this year’s edition of the Capital Cup, contact tournament manager Kevin Staskowski at 810-744-3338.