The Lethbridge Hurricanes have come up short in their bid to host the 2020 Memorial Cup.
In Calgary on Wednesday, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL) announced the Kelowna Rockets will be the hosts of the country’s top junior hockey tournament.
The event rotates each year between the WHL, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Rockets have qualified for the Memorial Cup five times in the last 16 years, hosting and winning the event in 2004.
Kelowna also beat out a bid from the Kamloops Blazers.
Lethbridge has never hosted the event and Kamloops has only done so once in 1995, which led many people to believe Lethbridge might have the best shot.
“We felt we had a real strong bid and we were told by many members around the league that we had a strong bid,” Hurricanes general manager, Peter Anholt said.
“We were really comfortable with what we presented and how it was presented and you know what? We feel that we represented the community real, real well.”
Victoria had entered an application to host the tournament but withdrew their bid in late August.
Lethbridge fell short in their pursuit of hosting the 2020 Memorial Cup despite strong support from the City of Lethbridge.
In August, city council committed $1 million towards the bid had it been successful, to the tune of $750,000 in cash investment incrementally and $250,000 in kind to cover facility costs for the Enmax Centre and Lethbridge Soccer Complex.
“Lethbridge have made great strides,” WHL Commissioner Rob Robison said.
“In the last four years, they’ve turned their hockey program around completely, led by the leadership of Peter Anholt there. They’re a community owned organization, which is difficult in many ways to mount a bid of this nature, but you have to give them a lot of credit.”
Robison didn’t say exactly how being community owned presents challenges for the Hurricanes, or whether it was a factor in their bid.
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