Windsor Spitfires make formal pitch for Memorial Cup

The waiting game is on to find out whether the Windsor Spitfires will be awarded next year's MasterCard Memorial Cup hockey tournament.

Team officials presented their bid to host major-junior hockey's national championship tournament to the CHL's site selection committee in Toronto on Monday.

"It's hard to speak for the panel, but I know we had all our 'T's crossed and "I's" dotted," said Steve Horn, the team's director of business development. "Our team did a fantastic job today."

The delegation representing the team was required to answer questions about Windsor's ability to host the tournament, which takes place each spring.

In an Instagram post, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens wrote the team made a "first-class" presentation.

Former Mayor Eddie Francis was shown in the picture along with GM Warren Rychel and Spitfires co-owner John Savage.

Horn would not say what role Francis played as part of the Spitfires' site-selection-bid team.

One question that Horn said stood out for him was the on-ice competitiveness of the Spitfires. He said the committee wanted to know if the Spitfires would be able to win a national title.  

"They want to make sure the host team is very competitive and I think [GM] Warren Rychel did a fabulous job at laying out the plan that they have over the next year," Horn said.

The CHL doesn't require its teams to make a bid public and Horn would not say how many other teams are competing for the right to host the tournament.   

This would be the second time the Spitfires hosted the Memorial Cup. The last time the tournament came to Windsor was in 1981, though the tournament was played in a different format.

The host site of the 2017 Memorial Cup will be announced before this year's tournament is held in Red Deer, Alta..