This past week, Hockey Canada announced that Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan will host the 2010 World Junior Championships. I like the selection because Vancouver hosted the last World Junior Championships and Ottawa will be hosting this year's tournament. Quebec and Halifax just hosted the World Championships in May. The only other location that had a chance to host the event was Winnipeg/Brandon, Manitoba. The Moncton/Halifax region just hosted a major international event.
Saskatoon and Regina will guarantee a profit of 12.5 million. Both venues will go through major upgrades before the tournament. The exact dates haven't been announced but the tournament usually starts on December 26th and ends around January 5th.
Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald talks about the bid up for grabs for the 2011 event. The Winnipeg Free Press says Grand Forks, ND is the best option to host the 2011 Tournament. I find it hard to believe Grand Forks would host it twice in a row as they held the 2005 event. Plus, Fargo-Moorhead is hosting this spring's World Under 18's.
I can see Detroit or Buffalo hosting the event but Buffalo will have a harder time winning the bid. There are OHL teams all around the Detroit area. Usually the host city has a college or junior team. Buffalo does have Rochester Institute of Technology and Niagara University near by. I wouldn't mind seeing Minneapolis getting the bid. They have the Xcel Center (Minnesota Wild) and Mariucci Arena (University of Minnesota). The biggest selling point for them is Minnesota is the State of Hockey.
I disagree with the Winnipeg Free Press that any tournament that's not near the Canadian border won't do so well. This tournament gets bigger every year in the United States and we will never see what happened in Boston at the 1996 event. I know with the pice of gas at its highest but I do see Canadians making a trip to Boston if it was ever held their again. They had no problem coming to see the Canadiens play the Bruins in the playoffs this past year. Plus with junior hockey cemented in the region with the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL three hours away; I am sure Maineiacs fans will go see a game. You will have the fans of the four local college teams will pay to visit. I am sure there will be BC and BU players on the team.
That's My Take
(Nathan also is a writer for MVN.com. He's the writer for the Asylum which covers the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. He's also a regular contributor to the NHL Source also at MVN.com. He can be reached at fbbhgfan@aol.com)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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1 comment:
I don't think Boston is a bad choice, either, but it's not ideal. Two of the reasons you list for Boston I don't think would pan out the way you think. I doubt there are a lot of Maine fans who would jump on attending the WJCs: Maineiacs fans aren't exactly overwhelming anyone with support for their own team...unless they had one of their own on the Canada or US roster, no way do many go to Boston for games. And even if they did, we're talking about numbers in the dozens who would be in Boston, not in the thousands.
And the Canadiens are vastly more popular in Quebec than the WJC team. Habs fans travel well--among the best in the NHL. Those same numbers aren't going to Boston for the WJCs.
The best reason for Boston you do list, though: college hockey fans. There will obviously be a great number of NCAA guys on Team USA, and with Boston a hotbed of NCAA hockey, THAT could be enough to successfully support this tourney, at least for games in which the US plays.
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