Hockey Canada is set to announce today that the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championship (aka the IIHF World U-20 Hockey Championship) will be held in Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon-Regina joint bid beat out bids from Manitoba and Halifax.
I for one couldn't have been happier this morning. When I woke up to the 6:00 sportscast this morning I thought my birthday had come a day early - that or I was dreaming. But I have to admit I never would have thought that Hockey Canada would ever have granted such a huge international tournament to little old Saskatchewan. Too much money to be had elsewhere goes the argument.
Anyone that knows me knows that I'm pretty proud to be from Saskatchewan and love promoting it to people all over the place. But even I thought it was a pipe dream to compete with the profit guarantees that could be made by centers with larger facilities. Boy am I glad I was wrong!
The momentum keeps rolling for Saskatchewan, and as we continue to show that we have the people and the dollars that can support sellout after sellout at world class events we only stand to see more of these great events.
Now let's not get caught up here in Regina complaining that we only get the non-Canadian pool. That would only reflect poorly on us here in Regina, and quite frankly Saskatoon deserves the Canadian games and the medal rounds because they can hold more than twice as many fans. To hold Canadian games in Regina would be an injustice as you would leave 5000+ fans without access to the live games.
Hey, we've got the Riders and thousands of people drive here from places a lot further than Saskatoon 9 times each summer. I for one don't mind the idea of driving 2 hours up the number 11 to take in one of the most electric hockey tournaments in the world.
My only question is how much will tickets be and when can we buy? I hope they put together a package that would give Regina residents who buy a package for the Regina games to also buy individual tickets for the Team Canada games in Saskatoon. Not sure on the logistics, but I'll be happy to take in the games in Regina as long as I get a shot to catch the Team Canada games in Saskatoon as well.
Good on the bid committee and our local politicians for putting together the winning bid. I for one am very grateful. Now let's not ruin this by complaining about things like where the games are played and who gets tickets - let's just be happy that the 2010 holiday season will be a hockey filled great time!
