The players, who are mostly from southern Ontario and in their late teens, paid roughly $3,000 each to travel to France to participate in the tournament.
Event organizer Ontario Central Scouting (OCS) promised dozens of professional hockey scouts would be present, said the players.
Instead, when they returned to Toronto on Tuesday, the dejected group said there was no tournament and they ended up playing a few games against each other.
"I spent $3,000 on shinny hockey, " said player Jordan Lass. "I had fun, but we got screwed — hard. I was excited because this has always been my dream to play professional hockey."
"Once we got there and found out that we wouldn’t be playing … I can’t even explain how disappointed I was, let alone the rest of the guys, too."
OCS blamed the International Ice Hockey Federation — the organization that governs hockey around the world — saying it warned European scouts to stay away from the Canadian players because the OCS was not sanctioned by Hockey Canada.
Got what was promised: OCS
Victor Criscuolo, OCS's head coach and director of hockey operations, told the Toronto Star it was too expensive to have Hockey Canada sanction his organization.
In more comments to the Globe and Mail, Criscuolo said the players received what they were promised in their signed contracts: airfare, accommodation, breakfast and four games.
"It doesn’t say anything about international teams, doesn’t say anything about tournaments. So, the parents signed it and the players signed it," he told the newspaper.
According to a screen capture of the OCS website, sent to CBC News by a parent of one of the players, the organization charged $1,999 US per person to take part in the ...