blades on memorial cup shortlist

[wango tango]

from the whl website...

The WHL also announced that the Kelowna Rockets, Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades have been short listed as the final three candidates to host the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup. The final bid presentations will be made at the October 12, 2011 meeting of the WHL Board of Governors in Calgary.

in my opinion it is between red deer and saskatoon.

[Rocketsfan]

in my opinion it is between red deer and saskatoon.

my guess also, they just have Kelowna in the running because they were such a commercial success in 2004 when they hosted it, but can't see them hosting twice in 9 years

[lostsheep]

i agree IMO its red deer and toon town in the running. i hope it dosent come down to the lets spread the wealth thing with saskatoon hosting the Jr's in recent years. our facility and the city with the surrounding areas always show up for the events, wish more would come to the games regularly. any way good luck to all and i hope we win.

[wango tango]

prince george and lethbridge probably get eliminated for the same reasons. a combination of little, to no history in hosting events this big. capacity. team on the ice. money.

pluses.

kelowna. hamilton is one of the most connected guys in the whl. fan support has been excellent. has a history of hosting big events. good building. should have a solid on ice product.

red deer. respected franchise, connected, committed ownership. ok fan support. good building receiving renovation upgrades to capacity and private boxes. should have a good on ice product.

saskatoon. connected, long term ownership. fan support similar to red deer. best building of the three. biggest profit potential of the three. long history of big events and supporting those events.

minuses.

kelowna. has very recently hosted the memorial cup.

red deer. by 2013 red deer will not have hosted a hockey event of this size in almost 20 years.

saskatoon. what will the on ice product be like?

[wango tango]

the cupboard is hardly bare in saskatoon.

thrower, olsen, sutter, bews, and elliott are all listed as players to watch from the whl for the 2012 nhl entry draft.

this with siemens, stransky, dietz, and benson make up a pretty good core of players to build a very solid team around.

dmen could be siemens, thrower, cox, and dietz.

adding makarov at the import draft is a good deal. helps the goalie group.

collins, nicholls, and cox could be your 20's.

stockl, zajac, stovin, daae, morrison, are in the mix at forward.

going to be fun to watch camp and the first part of the season.

[trucker]

I hope Saskatoon gets it! It's close for us Bronco fans to drive up and watch the boys win that tournament!! :clap: We had good luck there once before...right???lol

[wango tango]

I hope Saskatoon gets it! It's close for us Bronco fans to drive up and watch the boys win that tournament!! :clap: We had good luck there once before...right???lol

what an emotional tournament. i remember cheering on the blades and being so disappointed they fell one goal short in overtime. then thinking about the broncos and everything they had been through. it was hard not to get swept up in the emotion of it all.

saskatoon would be an excellent memorial cup host. then the next season they have their 50th anniversary season. exciting time to be a blades fan. i do feel the team has turned a corner, in spite of an early exit this past season.