The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, and give an opportunity for international competition to players less than 12 years old.

The event takes place each year in February at Videotron Centre, and previously spent 56 seasons at Quebec Coliseum.

[4] Media in Quebec City were quick to cover the event due to its charitable nature, and it being the first time minor ice hockey was played in such a large arena.

[3][8] The addition of the Quebec Beavers team to the tournament grew the attendance, as they became a crowd favourite composed of local boys, with Martin Madden as the coach.

[1] The 1990s saw stronger European teams from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, which revived the tournament according to Quebec historian Yvon Huard, who had played in the event as a boy.

[15] The tournament dates were changed in 2001 to no longer coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, with the aim to increase attendance.

[15] The 57th annual tournament in 2016 moved into its new home at Videotron Centre, after playing each previous year at the Quebec Coliseum.

The all-girls team was coached by Canadian Olympic hockey players Caroline Ouellette, Marie-Philip Poulin and Kim St-Pierre.

[6][20] The greater amount of team come from the Province of Quebec, and due to the number of requests to play, approximately 20% of applications were declined.

[20] On August 31, 2020, event organizers announced that the 2021 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America.

[21][22] The Virtual Museum of Canada credits the tournament volunteers in cooperation with event staff as being a significant contributor to its worldwide reputation.

[3] The web site Canoe.com quotes event organizer Patrick Dom as stating that "the soul of this tournament is the volunteers, the sponsors and the crowd".

[25][30] Tournament organizers seek a host family for visiting athletes to live with during the event, in an effort to offset the high cost of travel.