Spitfires start bid process for CHL's Memorial Cup
CBC News | Posted: February 8, 2016 6:33 PM | Last Updated: February 8, 2016
City council guarantees its hockey rinks will be available, if tournament awarded to Windsor
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens endorses the latest attempt to bring the 2017 CHL MasterCard Memorial Cup to the city.
The Windsor Spitfires announced the team is submitting the paperwork needed to bid on hosting the tournament, which determines the top team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League each year.
The Spitfires will send the Ontario Hockey League and CHL a letter of intent this week and will know by March 2 whether it will be making formal bid presentations in April, the team said in a news release.
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"We certainly support the Spitfires as they move forward for the third time to bring this important event to the city," Dilkens said.
Though the city supports the bid, no one from the municipality has been involved in the process so far, according to Dilkens. But that could change soon.
Windsor's newly appointed sports tourism officer, Samantha Magalas, said she'd make bringing the tournament to the city one of her main priorities. She started in her new position Monday, but was unavailable for comment.
After being hired in January, Magalas said the economic spin-off effects of big tournaments like the Memorial Cup would make a difference in Windsor's economy.
"I'm not coming in to bring in these tournaments that nobody wants to see," she previously told CBC News. "We want to fill up the facilities that we have and we have some really great facilities in Windsor."
Spitfires president Bob Boughner knows how prepared the team needs to be should they get called to give a presentation for the bid.
"If we are selected to present, we will take our experience from previous bid applications, along with all our resources and efforts to represent our city, fans and organization to the selection committee," he said.
The Spitfires won back-to-back Memorial Cup championships in 2009-10. This year, the Memorial Cup is being held in Red Deer, Alta.