The City of Brantford was officially recognized as the 'Tournament Capital of Ontario' (TCO) in the Provincial Legislature on June 4, 1998. In 2008 the TCO received the prestigious CSTA President's Award and in 2011 once again received the CSTA President's Award for the 4th annual Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament breaking the Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Street Hockey Tournament.'
Brantford is well known as the birthplace of NHL Legend 'The Great One' Wayne Gretzky, and the hometown of the most famous hockey father Walter Gretzky.
Here are a few interesting facts about the City of Brantford;
- In 1908 Brantford entered a team in the first professional hockey league in Canada, the Ontario Provicial Hockey League and this team competed for the Stanley Cup.
- During the 1920's there was an inter-city girls hockey league flourishing in Brantford.
- In 1934 the Ontario Minor Hockey Association was organized at a meeting in Brantford.
- In 2008 Brantford hosted the 100th Allan Cup Senior Men's Hockey Championships and the Brantford Blast Hockey team won gold.
- Brantford was the only community in Ontario to be included in the Canada's Top 100 Fun Trips newspaper article #69 - "Go to a hockey game in a small town, in fact go to a hockey game in Brantford hometown of Wayne Gretzky."
- Wayne Gretzky and Alexander Graham Bell were celebrity nominees in the CBC Greatest Canadian Show.
- Walter Gretzky was the official photographer for The Expositor at the 2002 Olympics.
- Brantford was the only official community sponsor of the Goodyear Drive for Gold that travelled across Canada.
- Brantford's Jimmy 'The Iceman' MacNeil was the winner of the Zamboni Driver of the Year and drove a customized Zamboni across Canada for the Goodyear Drive for Gold.