THE SUCCESSFUL VISIT

SAINT JOHN – As you have probably heard by now, the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup Selection Committee made their way to Saint John Wednesday for a site tour.

The site tour is a crucial part of the Memorial Cup bid and is likely the one aspect that will stick in the committee member’s minds when it comes time to decide who will host the Canadian Hockey League’s championship tournament next Spring.

The Selection Committee is made of Chair, Gerald Janneteau, Michel Cote, Vincent Damphousse, Robert Basque and Bernard Valcourt. They were accompanied by Gilles Courteau, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Commissioner.

The bidders are graded using the following criteria:

1. Logistics - Accreditation plan, hotels, etc.
2. Hockey operations - Will the team be competitive?
3. Host facility - Does it have large enough seating capacity, enough luxury suites, big enough dressing rooms, a state-of-the-art score clock?
4. Strength of the organizing committee
5. CHL Events - Are there adequate facilities to host such events as the awards banquet and golf tournament?
6. Sales and marketing - Is there enough corporate sponsorship?
7. Finance - How will a team foot the bill?

The committee visited Halifax on Monday, Cape Breton Tuesday, Saint John Wednesday, and closed out the tour Friday in Shawinigan. For numerous reasons, it is believed that the bid will come down to Shawinigan and Saint John.

It seems as though the Sea Dogs’ site tour was success.

"This was an amazing day and we really sold the city,” said Sea Dogs governor and Memorial Cup vice-chairman Joe Richard to the Telegraph-Journal. “Everything went according to plan, so that makes me feel very, very confident.''

Also in Wednesday's paper was the schedule that the committee followed for their tour. There is a lot of pictures and video floating around, so here is a deeper look at Wednesday’s events.

First off, here is the video that was presented to the committee sometime during their visit.



Any video that has Mayor Ivan Court yelling while sitting on a Zamboni is an immediate win.

7:30 a.m. - Breakfast at Delta Brunswick (speakers included City Manager Pat Woods and Mayor Ivan Court. Sea Dogs president Wayne Long and Saint John 2012 chair John Travis gave an introduction to the day.

8:30 - Site tour begins at Delta Brunswick, continuing through Inside Connection en route to N.B. Museum.

Banner inside Brunswick Square:

9:00 - Stop at N.B. Museum where CEO Jane Fullerton led a tour.

9:15 - Tour continues through Hilton.

Having both the Delta and Hilton connected to Harbour Station is a huge asset for Saint John’s bid.

9:30 - Bus tour begins from Hilton, up King Street. Highlights include Cruise Terminal, Hampton Inn, Best Western, Rockwood Park/Lily Lake Pavilion, Chateau Saint John, Holiday Inn Express and Harbour Passage.

More hotel visits and general tourist attractions.

10:30 - Rally at Centre Samuel-de-Champlain. Committee is greeted by hundreds of students chanting 'On Veut la Coupe!' and hears an inspiring speech from Sea Dogs alternate captain Kevin Gagne.

Video from the rally:



By all accounts, Kevin Gagne gave quite a speech to those in attendance. The Telegraph-Journal had a great picture of Gagne speaking on the front page of Thursday’s newspaper.

11:15 - Lunch event at HMCS Brunswicker. Minister of Tourism Trevor Holder gave a speech on behalf of the province, and Base Operations Officer Alain Carrier, chief of staff at CFB Gagetown, touched on the Port City's military history and the strong relationship the Sea Dogs have had with the Armed Forces over the years.

Of course this stop was big because of the military connections to the Memorial Cup. From Wikipedia:

The Memorial Cup was proposed by Captain James T. Sutherland during World War I, who wanted to create a trophy as a memorial to remember the OHA's players who died during the war. When the trophy was created, it was dedicated in honour of the soldiers who died fighting for Canada in the war. During the 2010 tournament, it will be rededicated to honour all soldiers who died fighting for Canada in any conflict.

Speaking of HMCS Brunswicker, could it be a big part of the tournament if the Sea Dogs host in 2012? For the past few years, the host team has worn military themed jersey’s that relate to something in the local area for one game in the tournament. Check out Rimouski’s from 2009:

1 p.m. - Harbour Station facility tour led by general manager Mike Caddell.

Not much to say here.

2:30 - Hockey operations meeting with Sea Dogs coaches Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly.

"They clearly outlined the vision we've had since 2009,'' Sea Dogs majority owner Scott McCain said to the Telegraph-Journal of the committee’s talk with the hockey operations people. "This team has been built with the view that we would try to have a very competitive hockey team in the year we were going to bid for the Memorial Cup.''

3:00 - Committee walks to Imperial Theatre through Inside Connection, where hundreds of posters from local schoolchildren were hung in support of the Cup.

Here are some of the posters that appeared on the pedway:

Also, the Imperial Theatre was dressed up for the committee:

The Imperial Theatre would be the site of the Canadian Hockey League awards if Saint John hosts.

3:15 - Reception at Imperial Theatre with key influential members of the local business community. Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain delivers a final presentation highlighting the support of government and local organizations and businesses, the strong event committee in place, Saint John's facilities and the city in general.

4:00 - Media scrum.

Quebec League Commissioner Gilles Courteau on the day in Saint John to News 88.9:

"We had a full day of activities and different presentations and every aspect has been touched and they've looked at it the way we need it," says Courteau.

4:30 - Final Q&A session with members of event committee.


Photo Credits: Google, Blair R. Cameron, Telegraph-Journal, Chris Creamer's Sports Logos, @supersingleinsj, @supersingleinsj, @supersingleinsj, @supersingleinsj, CHSJ News