The Juneau Lions Club 71st Gold Medal Tournament begins today at Juneau-Douglas High School — the host site since 1960.
A total of 270 players representing 11 different Southeast Alaska communities are signed up to play.
Angoon and Hoonah are the only two villages with teams in each of the four divisions: “B” (18-31), “C” (32 and older), Masters (42 and older) and Women.
All four champions from last year’s tournament return for this year’s competition: Angoon (B Bracket), Klukwan (C Bracket), Kake (Masters) and Haines (Women).
“Sunday you can come down to that gymnasium and that’s going to be packed, and that continues the rest of the week,” Juneau Lions Club officer Sasha Soboleff said. “We’re talking 1500 people – 1600 in you count all the cats and dogs.”
Officiated with high school rules, the double elimination format features 20-minute halves, no shot clock and five timeouts per team.
According to Soboleff, the most popular division is the B Bracket: “that’s the classic Gold Medal bracket.”
Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
