The Melfort Mustangs square off against the Estevan Bruins who are hosting this year's Centennial Cup. (Broad Leaf Media/Facebook)

By northeastNOW Staff

CENTENNIAL CUP

Changes coming to this year’s Centennial Cup in Saskatchewan

Mar 29, 2022 | 5:54 PM

Some changes are coming to this year’s Centennial Cup, which will crown Canada’s best Junior-A hockey team.

Last week, the CJHL and Hockey Canada announced the format for some of its major championships this year, including the Esso Cup, the Telus Cup and the Centennial Cup.

The 2022 Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons, will be a 10-team event played in Estevan where the host Bruins will welcome the nine champions of the leagues that make up the CJHL, including the winners of the SJHL.

Speaking to the voice of the Melfort Mustangs Mat Barrett this past weekend, president of the CJHL Brent Ladds, acknowledged they’ve had challenges this past season with interruptions to some of their leagues in eastern Canada.

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“In order to accommodate what we were looking at possibly (doing) in bringing all league representatives to the national championship, we had to eliminate the time period allotted for regional championships. That would provide the eastern leagues with another few weeks of play.”

As a result of this shift, the regional championships, (Fred Page Cup, Dudley-Hewitt Cup, ANAVET Cup, Doyle Cup) will not take place this season.

Ladds said another challenge they were faced with was trying to determine whether Estevan had the infrastructure to accommodate all the teams, players, coaches, family and fans who will come there for the big tournament.

Ladds said they heard back from the city and the host committee who ensured them they could make it work.

While it will look quite different from previous years, Ladds said this new format will give more players the chance to experience what it’s like to be at a national championship. As to whether the format could be adopted in the future, Ladds said they will re-evaluate after this year.

“If this is successful, certainly from a community standpoint, the economic impact of having ten teams within your community competing is greater than having five teams then that makes it more possible that you want to host it.”

“It certainly will generate a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of interest within the Junior-A community.”

Ladds said there has been a lot of discussions and planning getting ready for the Centennial Cup with the schedule and final groupings for the teams still being arranged.

The Centennial Cup is scheduled to go May 19-29 in Estevan.

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Twitter: @northeastNOW_SK