NORTH SYDNEY, N.S. — The defending champions of the Mae Kibyuk Memorial Green and Gold Hockey Tournament suffered a disappointing 6 –1 loss in their opening game of the tournament on Thursday.

In the tournament’s second game, which followed the opening ceremonies, the host Memorial High Marauders lost 6-1 to the Garden City Fighting Gophers of Winnipeg, with the charge for the winning side being led by by Kaitlyn Nault with the first goal, followed by, Jack Burton, Mason Schooley, Nolan Weihs, Caeilin Chimerny and Tyler Smith. The name of Memorial scorer was unavailable.

The first game of the evening, at 6 p.m. had an old rivalry renewed when the Glace Bay High School Panthers faced off against the Riverview Redmen. The Panthers captured a 3 – 2 victory. Scoring for Glace Bay were Colin Rosta, Robbie Harroun and Trenton Gove. Scoring for Riverview were Brad Price and Jacob Denny.

The tournament, taking place at the Emera Centre Northside in North Sydney, features eight teams, four from Cape Breton, three from mainland Nova Scotia and one from Winnipeg.

The tournament features teams in two divisions in a round-robin format. The top two teams in the two divisions meet in Saturday evening’s semifinals.

The Gold division features Memorial, Dalbrae Dragons of Mabou, Dartmouth’s Prince Andrew Panthers and J.L. Ilsley Judges of Halifax.

The Green division features Riverview High School Redmen, Glace Bay Panthers, Halifax’s Citadel Phoenix and Winnipeg’s Garden City Fighting Gophers.

Christian.roach@cbpost.com