The puck dropped Friday as the 12th Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament kicked off. Around 900 players competed over the weekend looking to take home the trophy. 

But with thousands of spectators coming out, it was businesses that got the gold.

"This tournament definitely drives business to downtown Buffalo. We've had hotel rooms fill out all throughout the area and it's been really good," said Lauren Christopher, the Labatt Blue Associate Public Relations manager.

Riverworks has been the venue for the past six years, and says the tournament shows players and visitors coming from different cities and states what Buffalo has to offer.

"We had people, I think, as far as South Carolina and Florida that come up to play this tournament. So it really highlights our venue in the city. It gives people a chance to experience what we have to offer here at Riverworks, it lets us show other people from around the country just what we have here in Buffalo, and it's been great for us," said Marc Vitagliano, Riverworks Bar and Entertainment manager.

Addix, a company that makes custom apparel, is based in Michigan. They caught wind about the tournament on social media and knew they wanted to be a part of it.

"It's huge for us. This is a growing market. There's a lot of big fans here who want to buy merch so it just worked out well," said Kyle Bergman, Addix Marketing officer.

And for local companies, they look forward to the tournament each year.

Just Dishin set up shop in Riverworks for the second year, and says they can see the growth from last year.

"It's been crazy. The amount of people we have this year is probably quadrupled [from] what we had last yearm and it's great to see everybody come out and kind of support the brand," said Matthew Keeler, Just Dishin owner.

Another local company, Bardown Creative has been coming to the tournament for the past three years. Owner Tim Turner says because of events like this, he is able to expand his brand outside the hockey community.   

"It was critical because the growth happened so quickly that I had to expand into other sports, which blossomed into Envious, because the name was pigeonholed. Bardown was pigeonholed to hockey so I had to transfer into something that was all encompassing," Turner said. 

With the success of the tournament over the past 12 years, they hope to see it grow even more.

"So for us it's about making this tournament bigger and better, keeping it new, fresh, and exciting for our players and for our fans. As soon as this one wraps, we'll be looking forward to next year," Christopher said.