Sask. hockey player resting at home after neck slashed by skate
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'Considering the circumstances ... this is best-case scenario,' Cole Cusitar said.
Regina and Saskatoon officially are hoping teamwork makes the dream work.
The two cities met the deadline set by Hockey Canada and submitted a joint bid to play host to the 2023 world junior hockey championship.
The event was to be held in Novosibirsk, Russia, but that country was stripped of hosting rights due to its invasion of Ukraine. The International Ice Hockey Federation then turned to Hockey Canada to find a host city, and that organization asked for bids.
City councils in Regina and Saskatoon approved funding for the joint bid on Friday and the bid went in on Monday.
In a media release Tuesday, Tourism Saskatoon and Tourism Regina said the work got done with help from the City of Regina, City of Saskatoon, SaskTel Centre, REAL District, Saskatoon Destination Marketing Hotels and the Regina Hotel Association.
“It’s been amazing to witness so much great work happening so quickly,” Chelsea Galloway, Tourism Regina’s chief tourism and visitor growth officer, said in the release.
“We want to salute all of our partners, especially the city councils of Saskatoon and Regina not only for seeing what this opportunity means to our province but for clearing the way to make this bid a reality.”
The campaign launched Tuesday with the release of a video featuring Regina Mayor Sandra Masters and Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark.
The BID is in! Bring It Home!
Let's go Saskatchewan. Show the world we want the 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
Share this video. Tag @HockeyCanada & the @IIHFHockey. We want them to know this is the best place to host the tournament.#BringItHomeSK pic.twitter.com/lxABe2k0hV
— REAL District (@REALDistrictyqr) April 5, 2022
“This is a very special time for hockey in Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is the heartland of Canadian hockey and we’re excited to bring the world juniors home,” Tourism Saskatoon CEO Stephanie Clovechok said in the release.
Beginning Friday, bid officials are encouraging people to use the hashtag #BringItHomeSK on social media to show Saskatchewan’s support for the bid. Residents also are urged to wear green as a sign of their support.
The tourism organizations have said the tournament will attract 20,000 out-of-town visitors to Saskatchewan and create a financial impact of $50 million for the province.
Saskatchewan has played host to the world junior tournament twice before, in 1991 and 2010.