Four teams remain in Hopelink Can Madness competition

Tournament rookies from the City of Redmond pulled out all the stops again last week and the city is now the team to beat in the Hopelink Can Madness competitive food drive. The Redmond team will square off against defending champion Xtreme Consulting Group, Inc. from Kirkland, in the fourth week of the competition to stock Hopelink’s five food banks.

March 21, 2016 3:47 pm
Tournament veterans Jeff and John Hancock unload this week’s Hopelink Can Madness donation. Since the competition began Feb. 29
Tournament veterans Jeff and John Hancock unload this week’s Hopelink Can Madness donation. Since the competition began Feb. 29

Tournament rookies from the City of Redmond pulled out all the stops again last week and the city is now the team to beat in the Hopelink Can Madness competitive food drive. The Redmond team will square off against defending champion Xtreme Consulting Group, Inc. from Kirkland, in the fourth week of the competition to stock Hopelink’s five food banks.

In the other matchup this week, seven-year veteran Hancock’s Bakery of Redmond faces tournament newbie WG Cells, representing Bellevue. The two teams surviving the Friday weigh-in this week will go head-to-head in the final round, and a tournament champion will be crowned April 1.

Last week, eight teams collected 11,353 pounds of food and $3,260 cash – bringing the tournament total so far to nearly 26,000 pounds of food and more than $12,000.

Now in its seventh year, the annual drive is patterned after the national spring college basketball tournament, matching businesses in weekly competitions to see which can bring in the most food. Teams are bracketed together in pairs and one winner from each two-member bracket advances to the following week.