(file photo)


The teams have been drafted and now it’s time to hit the pitch at the Moose Jaw Field House for the first ever Christmas Cup.  The best-of-three series will feature two teams of players born between 1996 and 2000 going head-to-head over the next few days.

Organizer Jason Jones of JJ Soccer says they wanted to give players a chance to keep their game fresh over the holidays, “It’s going to be nine-versus-nine with offsides, playing on a half field.  When they usually play, they’re playing on a quarter pitch and playing six-versus-six, so it’s more replicated of the outdoor game.

“We were kind of hoping to get four teams out of it, but we were able to create two teams of twelve players,” explained Jones.  “They were drafted based on their birth year and we divided them up so we would have a pretty even mix.  When the teams actually came out they look, on paper, pretty competitive against one and other, so now it’s just time to see how they play in this best out of three.” 

Jones added that they were happy with the response they got in the first year of the event, “It’s the first year doing this, so it’s something that we didn’t really know what to expect, whether we were going to get a whole bunch of people that were from around town that were going to be available.  We’re happy to be able to have the two teams and it kind of gives us a bench mark for where we’re going to go from here.”

The games get started on Wednesday night at 7pm at the Moose Jaw Field House.  Games two and three go Thursday and Friday.