Thrasher cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Thrasher Cup is the name for the trophy given at the Memorial Health Hockey Classic, an ice hockey tournament held every year in January in Savannah, Georgia between the University of Georgia, Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) hockey teams.
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[edit] History
Begun in 1999, the tournament is a showcase of hockey and the long-running sports rivalry between the four schools. Each participating team is a non-varsity team that receives no support from the athletics association. Memorial Health, a hospital, clinic and EMS provider based in Savannah, is the major sponsor of the event.
The University of Georgia has won the Thrasher Cup five times and Georgia Tech has won the Thrasher Cup four times. Florida State University and the University of Florida played for the title for the first time in 2008, with Florida State winning 5-4 in OT.
[edit] Attendance
The Memorial Health Hockey Classic is one of the premier sporting events in the Savannah area, with 5,000 to 6,000 attendees each night Savannah Civic Center for two nights each year. The event has been sold-out or near sold-out each of the last 7 years. The tournament has been named Savannah's Top Sporting Event several times over. Attendees come from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and other southern states. Georgia Tech is currently the only institution to include a pep band in the festivities. Other teams provide school fight songs that are played along with other music over the arena's public address and audio system.
