Some pay respects to fallen soldiers, some humiliate newcomers, and some blur the lines of what constitutes an award — like the Charles River Rugby Club, whose MVP has to eat an entire pineapple using just his hands, frond and all.

From the solemn to the goofy to the unwise, every team has an challenge, trophy or event that makes the Can-Am tournament what it is for them.

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Remembering through rugby

These dresses, hats and pearls will be worn by the Ottawa Ospreys rookies when they hit the town at the Can-Am Rugby Tournament, part of the team’s many costume changes throughout the weekend. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

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The Old Breed Rugby Club gathers Marines from all over the country every year to compete at the Can-Am Rugby Tournament, not just to take part in the largest U.S. rugby tournament but to honor their fallen brothers and sisters.

Old Breed was formed in 2005 by six Marines who decided they needed a way to commemorate their fellow Marine rugby players who had died in the first 4 years of the Iraq war.

Now the club competes at three or four tournaments annually and this year it brought over 120 ruggers to Saranac Lake. It’s the club’s fifth at the Can-Am tournament, and it is fielding seven teams: one in the women’s division, one in the open division, one in the 35-plus division, two in the 45-plus division and two in the 50-plus division.

While the active-duty and veteran Marines play to honor the lives of their friends, brethren and teammates who cannot be here, they keep their names on their shirts, lips and minds.

Club organizer Marc Okicich, who served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993, said this is part of how they honor the Marine motto “Semper fidelis,” which means “always faithful.”

“You die once and then you die twice if somebody doesn’t mention your name again, so we mention each one of their names every time we are together,” Okicich said.

One of the men they remember, Lt. Col. Kevin Shea, was an assistant coach to the U.S. Naval Academy rugby team and a Force Reconnaissance Marine who lost his life on his birthday, Sept. 14, 2004, in Iraq.

“He was killed because he stayed behind an extra three months until his relieving command got there because he didn’t want to leave his guys on their own,” Okicich said. “Kevin touched a lot of us in the Marine Corps community.”

All of the Marines he had stayed to keep safe returned home alive, and Shea was awarded the Purple Heart. Okicich said Shea’s wife, Amy, attends the games every year because the company of his fellow Marines reminds her of him.

The Old Breed Club helps to fund the permanent endowment of the Lt. Col. Kevin M. Shea Memorial Fund, which goes toward helping wounded veterans and the families of Marines killed in action.

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Costumes and camaraderie

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Ruggers in the Lake Placid area will have quite the view each night as the four rookies on the Ottawa Ospreys wear pearls, loud red hats and the oldest, tackiest sequined dresses their teammates could find.

“Our club, we’re really big on wearing things,” said Justin Smith, known as “Popeye” because he serves in the U.S. Navy.

They’ll be the ones wearing unicorn socks in today’s games, and tonight they will all hit the town wearing “sexy lumberjack” outfits, with the specification being that their jean shorts be short enough to see the pockets.

Though the team has not won many games, Smith said they always have a blast, dressing wildly, partying into the early hours of the morning and helping each other fight through the hangovers the next day. That friendship is what drew him to the sport in the first place.

“One day the other U.S. Navy guy said, ‘Hey man, you should come play rugby.’ I was like, ‘No, I don’t play that sport. That’s like football without equipment!”

But he agreed to go to a practice and immediately fell in love with the sport, and the camaraderie it seems to inherently bring.

“I moved to Canada, didn’t know anybody, and then all of a sudden I had a bunch of friends,” Smith said.

In fact, his best friends don’t even know his name. To them, he is just known as “Popeye.”