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Dave Harroch had a déjà vu moment recently when a handful of out-of-province hockey parents had their cars stolen while parked at suburban hotels in Montreal.

The hockey parents were in town for Harroch’s Montreal Meltdown, one of the biggest spring hockey tournaments in the world, with more than 300 youth teams.

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Over the past 24 years, the tourney has attracted a who’s-who of future hockey stardom, including P.K. Subban, Steven Stamkos, Connor McDavid, John Tavares, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

But the tournament gained another kind of international notoriety in 2007 when some 60 cars, most bearing American plates, were stolen from the arena parking lot of the Pierrefonds Sportplexe and local hotels over a period of four weekends.

While teams from across North America were playing hockey inside the arena, someone else was playing Grand Theft Auto in the parking lot.

It quieted down the following year due to an increased police presence and the closing of a back exit at the four-rink arena using cement blocks.