Mooseheads to bid for 2019 Memorial Cup

Photo - Vincent Ethier

Original story from Halifax Mooseheads' Scott MacIntosh

The Halifax Mooseheads are excited to announce their intentions to submit a bid to host the 101st Memorial Cup in Halifax in 2019.

“The Memorial Cup is a tribute to great Canadian heroism. For almost 100 years it has been the symbol of junior hockey supremacy,” said Mooseheads Majority owner Bobby Smith.

“Today we begin our efforts to showcase our hockey team, our organization, our terrific arena and our great city so that our fans can be treated to the 2019 Memorial Cup tournament.”

The 2018-2019 season will celebrate the 25th anniversary season of the Mooseheads. It will also be 20 seasons since the Club hosted its only previous Memorial Cup in 2000 when the hometown team electrified the city of Halifax and garnered national attention for the franchise. The fans were possibly the biggest story of the event in the spring of 2000 as 79,877 packed the Scotiabank Centre (then Metro Centre) for the eight-day tournament which at the time was the second highest total in the history of the Memorial Cup.

“Halifax loves hockey and we love the Moose! Not only would we pack the house for Memorial Cup 2019 like we did in 2000, we can be counted on to mobilize volunteers and create a warm East Coast welcome throughout the city for players and fans. It would be a special week,” said Mayor Mike Savage.

Halifax captured the franchise’s first and only Memorial Cup Championship in 2013 when Nathan MacKinnon scored a hat trick in the final to beat the Portland Winterhawks 6-4 in Saskatoon, SK. The team has since added an impressive young group of players and currently has 12 players on its roster 17-years-old and younger.

“The players that we have added to our roster over the past couple of years will be a solid core to build around,” said Mooseheads General Manager Cam Russell.

The Memorial Cup, one of the most prestigious and coveted trophies in North American sport, has a rich tradition that has shaped the way junior hockey is played in North America. The trophy was originally known as the OHA Memorial Cup and was donated by the Ontario Hockey Association in March 1919, in remembrance of the many soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice for Canada in The First World War.  In 2010 the Memorial Cup was rededicated to the memory of all fallen Canadian Military Personnel.

The winning bid of the 2019 Memorial Cup is expected to be announced in spring of 2018.

Hosting the Memorial Cup again would be awesome for the fans, the city of Halifax and the Canadian Hockey League. Halifax has always been a great place to watch hockey and the East Coast crazy about the sport. It would be an excellent way to end the Mooseheads 25th season and celebrate is with fans across the country. Good luck to Cam Russell, Bobby Smith and company on the bid, I really hope we get it. There are rumours saying that the Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats are going to bid as well but I have not seen anything for sure.