Hockey team party and fundraiser game night

Updated October 17, 2026

Teams that like each other play better, or at least complain about each other less. An end-of-season party, a mid-season bonding night or a fundraiser all work the same way: food, a room, and something everyone can compete at. A hockey video game tournament on a big screen is that something. This is how to run one for a youth team or an adult rec team, how to raise money with it, and what to hand out at the end.

Party ideas that work for teams

• End-of-season party. Pizza, a highlight slideshow from the parents' phones, awards, and a tournament. Kids remember the tournament.
• Mid-season bonding night. Mix up lines and D pairs into tournament teams so players who never talk on the bench end up on the same side.
• Tournament weekend downtime. Teams sit around the hotel or the rink between games. A laptop and a TV in the hotel meeting room fills the gap.
• Families night. Players against parents. Phones make it easy to get the parents in, and the parents usually lose.
• Adult rec league. After the late game, at a bar or someone's basement. Real hockey trash talk, settled with fake hockey.

The game night setup

Brudvig Hockey 2027 is a free 3-on-3 arcade hockey game that runs in a browser. There's nothing to buy or install, and up to six people play a game, three a side, with the computer filling any empty spots. There are two ways to set it up.

• TV mode, phones as controllers. Open brudvighockey.com/tv on a smart TV's browser or a laptop on HDMI. Players scan the QR code on screen and their phone becomes a thumbstick and four buttons. The phones don't need to be on the same Wi-Fi. Full steps on play on your TV.
• Bar mode, controllers and phones. On a laptop in Chrome or Edge, open brudvighockey.com/?bar=1. Plug in two to four game controllers (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro or a generic one), and phones can join by QR code to fill the rest. After each game it counts down and goes back to the lobby by itself, so it runs without anyone babysitting it. Setup is on a hockey game for bars.
• Projector. Either mode works on a projector the same way it works on a TV: laptop, HDMI, full screen. A wall-sized rink is worth the effort of finding the projector.
• A laptop over the TV's browser. Some TV browsers are slow at 3D, and they usually don't see game controllers. If you can, use a laptop plugged into power.

Tournament format

Print the game night bracket. It has a 4-player or 4-team bracket, an 8-player or 8-team bracket and a round-robin table for up to six. For a team of fifteen, make five teams of three, or eight teams of two with a couple of players rotating in.

• One game per match, about seven minutes, except the final: best of three.
• Every game has a winner. Ties go to a 1-minute sudden-death overtime, then a shootout.
• Agree on difficulty and speed before the first game and leave them alone.
• Rematches use Restart game in the ⚙️ menu; changing teams uses Select sides.
• Seeding: draw from a hat. Seed the coaches last.

Eight teams is seven games plus the extra final games, so plan on a bit over an hour with changeovers. Run a second activity at the same time (food, a raffle table, a slideshow) so people waiting aren't just watching.

Fundraiser ideas

The game is free to use, so whatever you raise goes to the team. A game night pairs well with:

• Entry fee. A small fee per player or per team to enter the tournament. Keep it low enough that nobody sits out.
• Raffle. Donated prizes from local businesses: a stick, a skate sharpening card, a restaurant gift card, a signed team photo.
• 50/50 draw. Half the pot to the winning ticket, half to the team.
• Food and drink. A concession table run by parents. Pizza by the slice does well.
• Challenge the coach. Pay a few dollars to play the coach in a one-on-one game. Coaches tend to be terrible at video games, which helps sales.
• Sponsor a team. A local business sponsors a tournament team and gets its name on the bracket.

Raffles, 50/50 draws and anything with an entry fee and a prize can be regulated where you live, sometimes needing a license or a registered nonprofit. Check your local rules and your league or association's policy before you sell a ticket. If your rink is hosting, ask them too.

Awards

• Champion: wins the final.
• Biggest hit: voted by the room.
• Best goal: one-timers and dangles count.
• Iron wall: fewest goals against. The game's box score keeps track.
• Real-season awards: most improved, best teammate, hardest worker. Hand these out before the tournament final, while everyone is still listening.

A sample schedule

For background on the format itself, 3-on-3 hockey explained covers why three a side plays so differently from five.