The tournament, which started in 1974, will start on Friday and will wrap up on Sunday with championship games. Last year would have been the 50th anniversary; however, the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year’s event will feature 120 teams spanning across nine divisions, according to Can-Am Rugby tournament director Cameron Moody. The tournament typically aims for 104 teams.

“We’re hoping for the future that we can stay at this number,” Moody said. “We’ve brought back the premier division, so we’ve added more teams with that division. It’s basically just a higher level of competition. Normally, these guys are playing in leagues and stuff rather than just tournaments, but we’re hoping that when they come and see what we offer, we’ll get people coming back for the future.”

Along with premier, the other divisions include men’s and women’s club, men’s and women’s social and the old boys which have four separate groups — the over 35s, the over 45s the over 55s and the over 60s.

Teams will travel from as far away as California, with the most local team being the host Mountaineers Rugby Club. Moody anticipates that a lot of families and some new faces will take part in this event.

“We’re expecting a lot of family members from the Old Breed Marine Corps team,” Moody said. “They’re celebrating their 20th anniversary, so they’re doing a big event with family members honoring fallen Marines that used to play rugby with them, so they’re bringing in a big number of people that have never been before.”

The tournament will be played on 15 different fields across Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. Games in Saranac Lake will be played at the Schroeter’s Field, Petrova fields, behind Spencer Boatworks, the Saranac Lake High School practice field and the field on the corner of Edgewood Road and George H. LaPan Memorial Highway. There will be seven different playing surfaces in Lake Placid at the North Elba Athletic Fields. Last year, the tournament used six fields at the venue.

“So technically we’re at the same number as usual because we can’t use the high school track in Saranac Lake right now because they are still working on that,” Moody said.

The Can-Am Rugby tournament has typically played games in either Lake Placid or Saranac Lake, which has essentially put a limit on the total number of fields that can be used during the event. This has essentially prevented the tournament from expanding in size.

“It’s something that we’ve been talking about for years, ‘How to expand to get a little bigger,'” Moody said. “Now we’ve talked about it and we’ve got our eyes on Tupper (Lake).”

This year, Tupper Lake will be a part of Can-Am Rugby as the village will host wheelchair rugby — a sport that consists of wheelchair-bound rugby players — at the Tupper Lake Civic Center on Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Moody wants this to be the first of many Can-Am Rugby events hosted in Tupper Lake.

“Hopefully next year we’ll even be able to add some youth or unified,” Moody said. “We just couldn’t get the funding in time to get the fields situated over there.”

The Can-Am Rugby tournament will also expand on some of its previous events, outside of the games, including its Can-Am carnival in Riverside Park in Saranac Lake.

“From Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we’re going to have live entertainment, bands, local bands and we’re going to have bouncy houses down there for the kids all weekend long,” Moody said. “Last year, we just had them on Sunday.

“We’re excited about that because we’re becoming more than just a rugby tournament; we’re becoming more involved with local families and the rugby players all mixing together.”

For the game schedules and results, visit www.canamrugby.com.