Memorial Cup Host City Announced

Brian Urguhart, Bobby Smith & Cam Russell
Photo - Vincent Ethier

The Canadian Hockey League announced today the host for the 101st Memorial Cup that will take place at the end of the 2018-19 season. In early March two clubs presented their bids to host the national championship with your Halifax Mooseheads being named the host team early this afternoon beating out the Moncton Wildcats.

"The organizing committee did an outstanding job in their bid presentation and proved that they are able to meet the expectations to host the prestigious event," said QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Couteau. "We are extremely excited to have the Memorial Cup tournament back in the QMJHL. The City of Halifax has proven in the past that they have all the resources to host world-class events and we are looking forward to seeing some of the best CHL teams and players go head-to-head next year."

Halifax has hosted the tournament before back in 2000 with the Rimouski Oceanic defeating the Barrie Colts in the final game. This is a great way for the city and the franchise to celebrate 25 years in Moose Country. The Mooseheads are thinking they will have the team to win it all so it should be a very exciting season and I'm sure the Scotiabank Centre will be jumping through the 10 day championship. The 2019 Memorial Cup will be held May 16 to 26. More information will be announced over the next few months including ticket packages but the best way to secure your seat is to become a season ticket holder.

Congratulations to the Halifax Mooseheads on being named host of the 2019 Memorial Cup!

I am so excited for this. Like always, I'll keep you up to date on the news as it becomes available. #GoMooseGo #Halifax2019

#Halifax2019

Photo - Vincent Ethier (via Herd website)

More than a year after announcing it's plans to bid for the 2019 Memorial Cup, your Halifax Mooseheads took another step towards that goal when they submitted paperwork last month.

In mid-January, Halifax tweeted that they had submitted their bid document, making the January 15 deadline given by the Memorial Cup selection committee. The committee will now visit the short list of teams who have placed bids which also includes the Moncton Wildcats. No date was given but the visit will most likely include a meeting with each teams' management group making their case, plus a look at what facilities each city has to accommodate the amount of people who attend the tournament.

Both teams released a video that will I'm sure also be presented to the selection committee at their visit either this month or next. Below is the clip for the Mooseheads:

The Canadian Hockey League along with the Memorial Cup selection committee will announce the winning city on April 5. If Halifax does win the tournament, be prepared to possibly give up your seat if you are a season ticket holder or 15 game ticket holder as the Herd will have to give a certain amount of tickets to the league.

Good luck to both the Moncton Wildcats and Halifax Mooseheads. In my opinion, our Mooseheads will have the better team next season and have said the last couple of years that 2018-19 is the year they are going for it all like they did in 2012-13. However, considering how well they are doing this season 90% of the time, and the fact that we may not have 2 of our top 3 (possibly all three) leading scorers next year, the Herd may not have the offensive power or goaltending to get the President's Cup in 2019. We shall see though since quite a few people did not expect the Moose to be leading their division right now so they are clearly finding ways to win and hopefully that will continue next season. All and all though I think the city of Halifax and the Halifax Mooseheads will be selected as the hosts for next year's tournament because we have more hotels closer to the arena, a better selection of restaurants in the downtown core and a new convention centre where meetings can be held (I think the league has a board meeting during the tournament).