A Special Olympics floor hockey tournament has brought hundreds of athletes, coaches and family members to the town of Truro for a fun-filled hockey weekend.

Excitement fills the arena, as the puck drops for ten teams and nearly 200 Special Olympics floor hockey players from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

“Every two years Special Olympics has their winter games, and then on the off-year, we hold our floor hockey tournament. That kind of helps keep floor hockey going and our winter sports going,” says Special Olympics Regional Coordinator Richard Haines.

The Cobequid Special Olympics chapter has been hosting this tournament every other year since 2008.

The game itself is similar to ringette, played on the floor instead of an ice surface. The puck is a round disk, made of felt and reinforced with leather.

Participants have been looking forward to the tournament since September.

“Every two years we make it here, it’s a wonderful tournament. They’re wonderful hosts, the boys have maximum amount of fun, we go home dead tired and completely happy,” says P.E.I. coach Barry Murray.

And it’s not just the boys. Canada’s success in Women’s Olympic hockey has helped draw more females to the sport.

“This is my first year of floor hockey, it’s my first tournament so I’m giving it my all out there and doing my best and having fun, and that’s all that matters,” says player Brianna Harris.

“We were lucky enough in my hometown to have (Stellarton, N.S. native) Blayre Turnbull competing with the women’s hockey team and so a lot of our athletes know Blayre, and were at a Crushers game with her, so I certainly think that’s been an incentive for more people to get involved, more women involved in the game,” says Special Olympics coach Cathy Mason.

The winning team walks away with a shiny piece of hardware, recently renamed the Jack Baird Memorial Trophy.

“To them, this is like the NHL, it’s their Stanley Cup,” says Richard Haines.

“We won the trophy in 2016, so we’ll try to pull it off this year again,” says player Justin Thompson.

Once the tournament wraps up, many of these athletes will start training for the 2018 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games, which will be held July 31-August 4 in Antigonish.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh.