Ever since the concept of having a western Canadian junior A hockey championship was first broached in 2011, Estevan has been viewed as the logical host city when it came to Saskatchewan鈥檚 turn to host.
After all, Affinity Place was brand new at the time, and it was, and still is, the nicest arena in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
So nobody was surprised when Estevan was awarded the 2016 Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup tournament. Of course, this is the first time the tournament has been in Saskatchewan.
It鈥檚 hard to believe that the tournament is now just a little more than a week away. It鈥檚 going to be a showcase for the Bruins, the arena, the city and the high-calibre hockey that exists in Western Canada鈥檚 four junior A leagues.
It will likely be the best hockey that most fans have ever seen in Estevan. Obviously, the hockey was fantastic back when Estevan was a Western Canadian Junior Hockey League city in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but it鈥檚 now been 45 years since major junior hockey left the Energy City for New Westminster, B.C.
The host CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins will be joined by the league champions from the British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba junior hockey leagues for western Canadians. There will be two hockey games a day from April 30 to May 5, and then playoff games on May 7 and 8.
Each game will feature excellent teams with talented players who will one day leave a mark on collegiate and professional hockey leagues.
The top-two teams at Westerns will advance to the Royal Bank Cup, in Lloydminster, in May.
We hope local fans will come out in droves for the tournament. The Bruin games will certainly be well-attended. While they didn鈥檛 have the season they were hoping for, and they were eliminated from the playoffs earlier than they expected, the Bruins still have a dangerous and explosive team, capable of beating any team they face.
We also hope to see good crowds for the games that don鈥檛 involve the Bruins. It鈥檒l be hard for local fans to make it to a 2 p.m. afternoon game on May 3 and 5, but hopefully the spectators won鈥檛 just be people affiliated with those two teams.
It could be argued fans in Estevan will see better hockey than their counterparts in Lloydminster later in May. After all, the B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan leagues have long been the best in the country, and the Manitoba league rep, the Portage Terriers, are the defending national champions.
The western teams are usually stronger than the entries from out east. So five western teams are better than three western teams and two eastern teams at nationals, right?
Regardless, it鈥檒l be great hockey. And we hope local hockey fans will support it.
