The Colorado Gay Ice Hockey Association (CGIHA) and the Los Angeles Blades Hockey Club announced a joint four-year sponsorship agreement with Coors Brewing Company that establishes the Coors Cup, a new charitable gay ice hockey tournament. The Coors Cup is the first gay ice hockey tournament in North America with a major corporate title sponsor and the first such tournament to offer prize money that will be donated to each divisional champ’s charity of choice.

“We are proud and excited to have Coors Brewing Company as the tournament’s title sponsor,” said Andrew Winsett, president of the Denver-based CGIHA. “With the support of Coors and the tournament management expertise of the L.A. Blades, we hope to make the Coors Cup the most exciting gay hockey tournament experience on the continent.”

The annual Labor Day weekend tournament’s venue will alternate between Denver and Los Angeles with the inaugural Coors Cup taking place September 3-6 at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena. The tournament will take an off year in 2006.

“After having successfully staged the Play L.A. tournament over Labor Day weekend for the past three years, we are delighted to have this opportunity to help take gay tournaments to the next level,” said Brynne Van Putten, tournament director of the Los Angeles Blades. According to Van Putten, the Coors Cup will replace the Play L.A. tournament for the term of the tournament sponsorship agreement.

“Like many other gay hockey clubs in North America, we are impressed with what the CGIHA and its Colorado Climax hockey teams have achieved in just a few short years, thanks in part to the support of Coors and Coors Distributing Company,” Van Putten said.

Coors Light has been the corporate title sponsor of the Colorado Climax hockey teams since March 2001.

“We are proud to lend our support and name to this exciting new sports event,” said Doug Sanborn, manager of corporate relations for Coors Brewing Company. “It is also a pleasure to be associated with such successful and community-involved gay athletic organizations as the CGIHA and the L.A. Blades.”

According to Roger Wilson, chairman of the Coors Cup Tournament Committee, it was the committee’s desire to make philanthropy a key component of the event. “At the very start, we decided we wanted to offer more than the traditional medals and trophies,” he said. “We wanted the tournament outcomes to reach beyond just the teams that participate, and offering prize money to the winning teams’ charities of choice is a great way to do that. The prize money is just one of the unique aspects of the tournament.”

The inaugural Coors Cup will feature three skill divisions with $1,000 in prize money paid to each divisional champion’s designated charity. The champions will share the Coors Cup, an original trophy specially designed for the tournament. Each championship team will also receive a championship award to keep permanently. Awards will be given to the second and third-place teams in each division, and additional individual awards are planned.

“We are also considering a skills contests with the look and feel of the National Hockey League’s skills contest held during the NHL All-Star weekend,” Wilson said. “With the support from Coors, we think we will be able to stage the most exhilarating, professional, and memorable GLBT hockey tournament in North America.”

“Denver and Los Angeles are great hockey towns,” Wilson said. “The climate is predictably ideal on Labor Day weekend, and both cities offer a wide range of attractions, including special Labor Day weekend festivities such as Taste of Colorado and L.A.’s annual GLBT sports festival.”