BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON -- The Olympic flavor of the FISU World University Games slated Jan. 12-22 in Lake Placid can be enjoyed in Canton and Potsdam who will play host to 44 men’s and women’s hockey games.

On Friday, Dec. 9, the spirit of the games will be lit and paraded through the streets and college campus in both villages.

The torch run will begin Friday around 1:30 p.m. at Canton Central School with assigned runners. The torch will travel to the footbridge to the SUNY Canton campus on Riverside Drive then makes its way across the structure, through campus and head into the village; the torch run ending at the Canton Village Park.

The runners will be accompanied by FISU mascot Mac the Moose and SUNY Canton mascot Roody Roo. Mac will be visiting Canton businesses from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. At the park, the public will have the opportunity to purchase tickets.

Once there, brief remarks will be made by Canton Mayor Michael Dalton, Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley, William Sheridan, chair of the St. Lawrence County Legislature, and SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran.

The event will then make its way to SUNY Potsdam for a 6:30 p.m. run featuring 40 ROTC cadets to Clarkson University’s Cheel Arena where brief remarks will be delivered.

Local officials expected to attend are Potsdam Mayor Ron Tischler, Potsdam Administrator Greg Thompson, Economic Developer Fred Hanss, Potsdam Legislator Margaret Haggard, County Administrator Ruth Doyle, Potsdam Chamber of Commerce director Megan Mulvenna, Assemblyman-elect Scott Gray, Clarkson University President Marc Christensen, County Emergency Services Director Matt Denner, Potsdam Central school superintendent Joanne Chambers, Patrick O’Brien from SUNY Potsdam, and Donna McGregor and Brent Bishop from Canton-Potsdam Hospital.

Because of the magnitude of the hockey schedule, preliminary games will take place from Jan. 11-19 at the Roos House at SUNY Canton, Cheel Arena at Clarkson University and the rink at SUNY Potsdam’s Maxcy Hall.

In all, 44 games will be played locally.

“It’s a huge opportunity to host something of this scale and to included in this opportunity is really unique,” said Brooke Rouse, Director of Tourism for the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s also a unique opportunity for our residents to interact with people from all over the world and show them our home and be helpful and welcoming to a lot of new people who are foreign speaking.”

Rouse noted there will be 12 men’s teams and 8 women’s teams who will be housed and fed at SUNY Potsdam. Media, officials and volunteers will also flock to the two communities.

“The question is how many teams will be bringing parents,” she said.

For information about the FISU games, visit https://www.lakeplacid2023.com/

Clarkson professor Ken Visser, founder of Ducted Wind Turbines in Potsdam, which is providing a locally manufactured portable small wind turbine for the Lake Placid cauldron to be lit Jan. 12, will help recharge the torch for its next journey, a press release from FISU reported.

The Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games are expected to bring together 1,500 collegiate athletes, ages 17-25, from 600 universities in 50 countries to participate in Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, freestyle and freeski, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, snowboarding, ski jumping and speed skating. A total of 86 events in 12 winter sports make up the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, taking place Jan. 12-22, 2023.