Jeffers forward Benton Rajala protects the puck from Houghton defenseman Ian Hembroff during a game Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — This December the John MacInnes Holiday Hockey Classic will turn 50 years old when it takes place on the 28th and 29th. The annual holiday event has often featured three of the four local high school hockey teams and then one squad from the eastern Upper Peninsula, a downstate team, or one from Wisconsin.

This season, the tournament will go through changes that expand the number of teams involved from four to eight, and every team will play two games over the course of the two-day event. Houghton, Hancock, Calumet, and Jeffers will all be involved, along with DePere, which is coached by J.P. Coppo, Livonia Stevenson, and then two Lansing-area teams in Capital City and Eastside.

Houghton athletic director Rob Fay said that the feedback he has gotten from being involved with the tournament the last couple of years has revolved around first, the teams involved, and second, the matchups.

“Some of the feedback we’ve gotten is Jeffers wasn’t involved, and Houghton and Hancock, one of us was always playing Calumet for yet another time,” he said. “So, where Hancock plays them three times during the regular year, because they play them in the Copper Island Classic, two set games, and then they have the single game, some years the playoff game is the fifth time they’ve played. So, we kind of had the conversation of what can we do to expand it (the MacInnes Classic).”

As the conversations continued, Fay turned to former Gremlins player Frank Jackovic, who still had programs from the 1975 and 1976 tournaments. At that time, the tournament was a six-team bracket where two teams had a bye and teams played as many as three games to win the title. From there, the tournament organizers settled on an eight-team showcase, rather than the now-traditional four-team bracketed tournament.

“We’ve got eight teams coming, the four local, four out of town, from, kind of, four different levels of the spectrum,” Fay said, “trying to match some different talent level, varied levels each year.”

“That’s good, because up here we’re not all strong every year, either,” said Gremlins coach Micah Stipech.

Calumet and Hancock were both in favor of the changes. Hancock offered support for the plan, while Calumet coach Dan Giachino expressed excitement as his team often did not matchup with the fourth participant unless both teams either won or lost in the semifinals.

“So we kind of just said, ‘What can we do? What’s for the betterment of Copper Country hockey?'” said Fay. “We all know that the SDC and the event that they put on with the cameras and everything is better than the state high school playoffs.”

Getting the Jets, who won their first regional championship in the current format this past season, involved was a key to the changes.

“There’s three new ADs (athletic directors) between Houghton, Hancock and Jeffers in the last two years,” said Fay. “So, we kind of have really taken that we’re in this together. We’re going to be here for a long time together. What can we do to continue to work together to bolster that relationship, too? Because at some point, there might be a time where we call Jeffers and say, ‘Who do you have coming up? We’re looking for another game.’

“We’ve kind of established that relationship a little bit.”

Livonia Stevenson was an easy “yes” when asked if they were interested in returning.

“A good example is Livonia Stevenson’s coach,” Stipech said. “Their new coach (said) they just had a player-parent meeting, and the first question the parents asked was, ‘Are we going back to Houghton?’ Because they wanted to come back. It was such a great experience.”

As far as to how the matchups will be determined, like other showcases, the teams will be paired up based on how they are performing during the early season.

“As far as matching up teams for play, we’ll do that, probably, early December,” Fay said. “We’ll make the matchups just like other showcases do. I think it (will be) a great day for hockey fans in the Copper Country over Christmas, when there’s not a lot going on. You can go there almost for an entire day and watch and watch the local teams play.”

Showcases have grown in popularity over the last several years, and Stipech feels they are extremely valuable experiences for both teams and players alike.

“You can go to a neutral site, and play teams that are from around the state,” he said. “For us, like for example, we played an Illinois team two years ago in Trenton. There’s three Ohio teams there. Those are teams that you wouldn’t normally schedule. So, showcases are good for a lot of reasons. I think from the scouting aspect, it’s more visibility for players when a scout can go and watch 16 teams versus two on a weekend.”

While the changes are set for this season, Fay said that the tournament could undergo other changes in the future, depending on how this year goes.

“I could see that,” he said. “I don’t know that it’s getting bigger, mainly just due to the timing. We’re trying to keep that window between Christmas and New Year’s. We’ve got games scheduled the following weekend.

“Some of it is we’re trying something new. At first we didn’t know if we were going to be able to get four outside teams to come up, and it turns out there’s a couple more that expressed interest that had been here previously, or something along those lines. So, we’re looking at it. We didn’t want to destroy our current schedule and just invite teams that we play throughout the year, because now I’m back-filling other games. That’s where De Pere wasn’t on our schedule previously. Last year, obviously, Eastside Stars wasn’t. So, there’s some give and take on it, but we’re excited to try it. We’ll take feedback from the teams involved, and see what it looks like for the 51st.”

Fay is excited to see how the community embraces the new look.

“We’re looking at how can we make this the best event possible for the Copper Country, knowing that it’s not going to be perfect the first year,” he said. “We’re hoping it’s the 50th playing of the event, (so) let’s try something new, and if we stub our toe, we’ll fix it for the future.”