This year’s tournament featured 12 teams across two divisions (Division 1 also had two sub-divisions within it). With 2026 marking its 10th iteration, the tournament — which was held at the Tupper Lake Memorial Civic Center Friday through Sunday — pays homage to Phil Edwards.

Phil’s Hammers has participated in the tournament the last couple of years, but 2026 was their first time walking away with the title. Team organizer and captain Griffin Shaheen, a 2024 Tupper Lake High School graduate, said it all came down to setting the tone, early and emphatically.

“The boys came out, and we set the f****** tone early,” he said. “That’s what we did, and that’s what gets down to it. A lot of teamwork and the boys came out.”

Shaheen said his team did not ease off the gas pedal, even as Phil’s Hammers’ lead became increasingly insurmountable. He credited that unflinching team mentality and chemistry to the tournament victory. “It doesn’t change, to be honest,” he said. “We just keep running it up. We’re out here having a good time.”

Steve Huyck, left, and a Duff’s Dumpster Divers player skate at the Phil Edwards Memorial Hockey Tournament Division 1 Championship game at the Tupper Lake Memorial Civic Center on Sunday. Phil’s Hammer defeated Duff’s Dumpster Divers 7-0. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

The Division 2 Championship was won by the Chicken Hawks over the Fletchers.

Event organizer Krit LaMere said Edwards was one of Tupper Lake youth hockey’s largest supporters and an accomplished carpenter who devoted countless hours to program development, as well as building and maintaining the Tupper Lake Memorial Civic Center.

LaMere said there’s no one better to bear the namesake of the adult-level hockey tournament than Edwards.

“He did so much for this town,” she said. “So we figured who else would be better? And the Edwards Family has been so supportive.”

LaMere said the tournament has become huge for the Tupper Lake hockey community. In addition to bringing out scores of locals to play and watch, it draws many visitors to the community for the weekend.

“A lot of the guys stay at Airbnbs or the motels,” she said. “And they’ve got to eat.”

This boon to the local economy in the midst of winter is year-in and year-out. While this season has largely proved to be a classic Adirondack winter so far, the hockey tournament — which takes place indoors at the civic center — is a reliable influx, regardless of the natural conditions in any given season.

Organizing the tournament, while a labor of love, begins months in advance for LaMere. She said that, realistically, it’s something she begins thinking about for next week just a couple of weeks from this year’s tournament, though the serious planning begins in the early summer, with the formal announcement going out to prospective participants — who come from Canada, New England, the greater North Country region and the Tri Lakes — going out sometime in September.

LaMere said that the tournament’s proceeds are invested directly in Tupper Lake’s Youth Hockey Association. Though she was still tabulating revenues and expenditures for this year’s tournament, she said last year yielded a $6,400 donation to the community’s youth hockey program, and expected this year to be on par with that, if not slightly more.

“It went really well,” she said. “We had a really good weekend.”