There could be a major snag in the Saint
John Sea Dogs’ hopes of hosting the 2017 Memorial Cup.
This year’s Memorial Cup tournament will
be held in Quebec City (QMJHL) and next year’s in Red Deer (WHL). The 2017 tournament would
normally be held in an OHL city, but with the 100th anniversary of
the trophy coming up in 2018, it has been believed that the CHL would break the
rotation and give the QMJHL the 2017 tournament and the OHL the 2018 edition.
The Sea Dogs have been saying for well
over a year now that they want to host – and, obviously, ultimately win – the 2017
Memorial Cup. They have made it clear that they are building for 2017 and
appear to have the team set up nicely to go for it that year. But a report in today’s Telegraph-Journal (paywall) puts the hosting part of the plan in
jeopardy.
According to Scott Briggs, in 2018 “the
CHL is considering Toronto as host, the site of the first Memorial Cup in 1919”
and “now it appears an Ontario Hockey League team will also host in 2017 and
Toronto in 2018, albeit with a revised format that could potentially involve
more teams.”
After going through the pain of losing
the 2012 bid to Shawinigan, this is something that probably wouldn't go over too
well with Sea Dogs fans.
This is all speculation right now (a QMJHL spokesperson told Briggs that this is one of several possibilities) and none of this is set in stone, meaning the QMJHL could still end up hosting in 2017. Perhaps the more significant
part of all of this is the potential format change involving more teams. There
are unlimited formatting possibilities, and the CHL – and Sportsnet - no doubt
want to try and get the national championship the level of hype and exposure
the NCAA gets.
It's sad how some people are on Facebook already whining about this decision and nothing has even been set in stone yet. Some actual hockey fans have taken to the fact that the Sea Dogs org and fans are a bunch of whiners. See Gerrard Gallant during the Mem Cup in Shawinigan.
ReplyDeleteI obviously don't think the team and fans are a bunch of whiners, but it's a shame that people are thinking that. We need to focus on putting more bums in the seats first before we even launch a serious Mem Cup bid...