Saint John to host 2022 Memorial Cup

It's happening: the Saint John Sea Dogs will host the 2022 Memorial Cup.

The Canadian Hockey League awarded the Sea Dogs the tournament on Wednesday morning. The team will hold a press conference later this afternoon at TD Station.

“We are extremely excited to be granting the rights to host this event to Saint John for the first time,” said CHL president Dan MacKenzie in a news release. “The bid committee did a fantastic job of outlining how Saint John will embrace the Memorial Cup with its Maritime hospitality to create an atmosphere that both celebrates the game and leaves a lasting legacy in the community.”

The Sea Dogs beat out the Quebec Remparts to host the prestigious junior hockey championship, which is scheduled to take place June 3-12, 2022.

Congratulations to the @SJSeaDogs, hosts of the 2022 Memorial Cup presented by @KiaCanada.https://t.co/MKQ7uJyHFB pic.twitter.com/elAjM6CCGv

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) September 22, 2021

Saint John is just the third Maritime city to host the event following in the footsteps of Halifax (2000 and 2019) and Moncton (2006). This is the first time the Maritimes will host the event back-to-back in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's three-year hosting cycle.

If everything goes as planned, the 2022 tournament will be the first to be held since 2019 due to the pandemic. There are plenty of unknowns between now and June - but let's hope things are in much better shape eight months from now.

Today's announcement is bittersweet for Scott McCain and the Sea Dogs who were devastated after losing the 2012 bid to the Shawinigan Cataractes. 10 year later they finally have their tournament.

More to come...