EVERETT — The Memorial Cup is heading to Brandon, Manitoba.
Which means Everett will have to wait.
Everett lost out on its bid to host the 2010 Memorial Cup, the championship of North American major junior hockey, when the WHL announced Brandon as the winning city Wednesday.
Everett was one of three cities in the running for the event, along with Brandon and Kelowna, B.C. Each delegation was scheduled to make a presentation before the WHL’s board of governors Wednesday before the board voted.
However, Brandon, which has been in the league 42 years without ever hosting the Cup, was the big favorite to earn the bid during the run up. WHL commissioner Ron Robison said that after Brandon, presenting first, made its pitch, both Everett and Kelowna decided to withdraw their bids and give their support to Brandon, leading to a unanimous vote.
“In fairness to Everett and Kelowna, once they witnessed Brandon present they decided at that time to put their support behind Brandon,” Robison said during a teleconference following the announcement. “Everyone knows the kind of success the Everett Silvertips have had as one of the most successful expansion franchises the league’s ever had, and we have great confidence in that market. But given the fact that Brandon has been a league member for more than 40 years and gave such an impressive presentation, they decided to support Brandon.”
Everett general manager Doug Soetaert, who attended the meetings in Calgary, could not be reached for comment. The team was also unavailable as it played in Vancouver Wednesday night.
The Memorial Cup, held annually, pits the champions of the Canadian Hockey League’s three member leagues — the WHL, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League — along with the host team in a 10-day, round-robin tournament to determine the champion of North American major junior hockey.
Everett, a relative infant in the major junior hockey world, is playing in just its sixth season and was always a longshot. In addition to its seniority, Brandon had a number of other factors working in its favor.
“I think it was a couple of things,” Robison said. “First of all, I feel there was confidence in the Brandon Wheat Kings organization. Kelly McCrimmon has been the owner, manager and coach of the team for a number of years and we have confidence in his ability to field a competitive team. And then Brandon’s facility will be getting the enhancements needed to bring it up to standard (following a $2.5 million pledge by the city to renovate the outdated Keystone Centre).”
Now the question for Everett is whether the Tips will try again the next time the Memorial Cup comes to the WHL in 2013. That may be tough sailing as Robison revealed one of the factors working against Everett is its location. There are concerns whether a Canadian-based league should hold its signature event in the United States. Just four times in the event’s 88-year history has the Memorial Cup been held outside Canada, most recently in Spokane in 1998.
One of those times was in 1992 when Everett owner Bill Yuill, then the owner of the Seattle Thunderbirds, hosted an event generally considered a flop.
“There are issues and challenges with respect to having Canadian-based sponsorship event in the U.S.,” Robison said. “It wasn’t the deciding factor (in the 2010 bidding process), but it does increase the challenges.”
So, does Everett or any other U.S. Division team have a chance in 2013?
“The Canadian Hockey League is working on a policy in that respect, where all member clubs in the CHL will have the opportunity to host the Memorial Cup,” Robison said. “At the present time it’s not complete, but we hope to have it done as soon as we can.”
Slap shots: Two other major pieces of news came out of the board of governors meeting Wednesday. The sale of the Portland Winter Hawks to Calgary-based oilman Bill Gallacher was approved by the league in a unanimous vote. Gallagher purchased the floundering franchise from a group led by Jim Goldsmith for an undisclosed fee. The sale will be finalized later this month. … Also, the league announced full implementation of its drug education and anti-doping program. Random drug testing of all WHL players is scheduled to begin in November.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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