A prestigious Cape Breton high school hockey tournament cancelled because of the work-to-rule campaign by the province's teachers is back on again now that the job action has ended.

The Red Cup Showcase, now in its 40th year in Coxheath, N.S., will be contested by four local teams instead of the usual eight. Three Halifax-area teams and one from Dieppe, N.B., were to be included but made other plans when the tournament was cancelled earlier this month.

Work-to-rule had prevented teachers from participating in extracurricular activities. But the tournament is back on following the suspension of the job action after a tentative contract agreement was reached last week between the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and the provincial government.

Red Cup chair John Hanna said there are forces at play guiding the way for the tournament's organizers. One is the fact that it means so much to local players, he said, especially those in their graduating year.

However the second factor, according to Hanna, is influence exerted from beyond the grave by the late founder of the tournament, Bob MacKenzie, who started the event in 1978.

"You got to think he's been looking down and making sure that Red Cup 40 was being able to play this year," Hanna said.

"He always used to have a saying: 'The show must go on,'" said Hanna, noting that "we've had some delays and we've had some storms, but we've managed to play every year."

The four teams — Riverview Redmen, Glace Bay Panthers, Sydney Academy Wildcats and Memorial Marauders — will play a round-robin tournament from Feb. 2 to 4.

Meantime, organizers of the Coal Bowl Basketball Classic, another popular Cape Breton high school sports event that normally takes place this time of the year, say it will not happen in any form in 2017.

Board members have decided to put the national tournament, which would have turned 36 this year, on hold until 2018.