Stay in the City™: Turn Your Hockey Tournament Into a Family Vacation™ To See All Posts on Vegas, Click Here
The Player Has to Attend the Tournament.
The Family Deserves the Vacation.
A hockey tournament is rarely just another weekend on the calendar.
Families may travel hundreds or even thousands of miles/kilometres, book several hotel nights, eat every meal away from home, manage early mornings, late games, schedule changes and long periods between ice times. The player is attending because of hockey, but the entire family is making the trip.
That is why The Hockey Resource created Stay in the City™.
Stay in the City™ helps hockey families turn a required tournament trip into a meaningful family experience. It connects the games with the city surrounding them so families can discover where to eat, what to see, how to get around and how to make better use of the time they already have away from the rink.
Turn Your Hockey Tournament Into a Family Vacation™
Play Hockey. Stay in the City. Make More Memories™
Why Stay in the City™ Exists
Most hockey families do not choose a tournament destination in the same way they choose a traditional vacation.
The tournament operator selects the city. The team chooses the event. The schedule determines when the family arrives, where the player must be and how much free time remains between games.
The family may not control the reason for the trip, but it can still benefit from the experience.
A tournament weekend can include much more than dressing rooms, hotel hallways and restaurant chains beside the highway. It can become an opportunity for parents, players, siblings and grandparents to discover a new community together.
Stay in the City™ helps families answer the question:
What can we do with the time between the games?
The answer may be a memorable breakfast, a local attraction, a walk through a downtown district, an afternoon at a museum, a family activity, a neighbourhood restaurant or a simple experience that becomes part of the story of the tournament.
What Families Will Find
Stay in the City™ destination pages are designed specifically for hockey tournament travel.
They are not generic tourism articles. They are built around the realities of tournament weekends, including limited time, changing schedules, multiple age groups, family budgets and the need to return to the arena on time.
Each city guide may include:
Arena Information
Families need more than an address.
Our arena coverage can include parking, entrances, spectator areas, food availability, nearby businesses, accessibility information, estimated travel times and practical advice for tournament days.
Family-Friendly Attractions
We identify activities that can fit realistically between games or extend the trip before or after the tournament.
These may include museums, parks, observation attractions, waterfront areas, local landmarks, interactive experiences, family entertainment and seasonal events.
Restaurants and Food Options
Tournament families often need several different types of meals during one weekend.
Stay in the City™ may highlight:
- Breakfast before an early game
- Fast meals between ice times
- Team-friendly restaurants
- Local family restaurants
- Coffee shops for parents
- Dessert and celebration options
- Restaurants suitable for larger groups
- Places near the arena or hotel area
The objective is not simply to list restaurants. It is to help families find options that work with the tournament schedule.
Hotels and Tournament Areas
Many tournaments use stay-to-play systems or assigned hotel blocks. Families may not always choose their hotel, but they can still understand the surrounding area.
Our guides help families identify what is nearby, how far the hotel is from the arena, where they can eat, what they can walk to and how the location affects the overall tournament experience.
Our hotel philosophy is clear:
The hotel’s tournament business may be assigned. Its After-Tournament Business must be earned.
Hotels that make hockey families feel welcome, provide useful amenities and help improve the trip can earn repeat business long after the tournament ends.
Transportation and Parking
In an unfamiliar city, a short distance does not always mean a short drive.
Stay in the City™ considers traffic patterns, parking, walkability, public transportation, airport access and the time families should allow when moving between hotels, arenas and attractions.
Suggested Tournament Itineraries
A family may have three hours between games, one free evening or an open morning before travelling home.
Our destination content helps families use those windows intelligently.
A tournament itinerary might include breakfast near the arena, a short local attraction, lunch, the next game and a relaxed family dinner afterward.
The goal is not to fill every minute. It is to make the available time more valuable.
Built for the Entire Hockey Family
The player may be the reason for the trip, but the experience belongs to everyone.
Stay in the City™ considers:
- Parents managing the schedule
- Players competing in the tournament
- Brothers and sisters spending the weekend away
- Grandparents attending games
- Coaches and team managers organizing activities
- Families travelling together as a team
Some family members may want hockey-related experiences. Others may want shopping, sightseeing, outdoor activities, local food or a quiet place to relax.
A successful tournament destination gives every member of the family something to remember.
Family-Friendly Standards
The Hockey Resource does not recommend casinos or gambling activities to hockey families.
A family-friendly restaurant, attraction or business located on a casino property may qualify for inclusion only when families can access it without being directed through the casino or gaming area. Choosing to enter a casino remains the parent’s decision.
Our role is to help families discover appropriate experiences, not introduce children to gambling environments.
We also prioritize businesses and attractions that are practical, welcoming and suitable for tournament families.
Why Cities and Businesses Should Participate
Hockey tournaments bring highly predictable groups of visitors into a city.
Teams know when they are arriving. Families know how many nights they are staying. Tournament schedules reveal when visitors will be at the arena and when they are likely to have free time.
These families spend money on:
- Hotels
- Restaurants
- Attractions
- Transportation
- Shopping
- Entertainment
- Groceries
- Coffee
- Team activities
- Local services
Stay in the City™ gives destinations and local businesses an opportunity to reach these families before and during their trip.
The tournament may bring the family into the city, but every business must still earn the family’s attention, trust and spending.
Businesses that provide a strong experience can gain repeat customers, referrals and future visits that extend well beyond the tournament weekend.
More Than Tourism
Stay in the City™ is not simply a tourism program.
It is a hockey-family experience program.
The objective is to make tournament travel feel less like an obligation and more like an opportunity.
A player may remember the championship game. A sibling may remember the attraction visited between games. A parent may remember the family dinner after a difficult loss. A grandparent may remember walking through a new city with the family.
Those experiences become part of the tournament story.
The games matter, but so do the moments surrounding them.
Start Planning Your Tournament Trip
Families can explore more than 1,700 hockey tournaments through The Hockey Tournament Resource and use Stay in the City™ destination guides to plan the experience surrounding the games.
Additional hockey-family resources, arena guides, city coverage and original stories are available through The Hockey Resource.
Families can also explore bookable attractions and destination experiences through GetYourGuide.
The player has to attend the tournament.
The family deserves the vacation.
Turn Your Hockey Tournament Into a Family Vacation™
Play Hockey. Stay in the City. Make More Memories™