Hockey Canada takes a pass on Saskatchewan for 2023 world juniors

Saskatchewan took its best shot but missed.

Halifax and Moncton have been selected by Hockey Canada to play host to the 2023 world junior hockey championship. The tournament is to be held from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.

A joint bid by Regina and Saskatoon was among those also considered by Hockey Canada.

“Of course our reaction is of disappointment, but at the same time, I can’t emphasize enough how proud we should be of the team that pulled together on behalf of this province (and) all levels of government support,” said Stephanie Clovechok, the chief executive officer of Tourism Saskatoon.

“It is clear that this province cares so much about sport and event hosting and I’m still very proud of what we did.”

The 2023 world junior tournament initially was to be held in Novosibirsk, Russia, but the International Ice Hockey Federation stripped that country of its hosting rights after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The federation then asked Hockey Canada to find a place to hold the tournament. Regina and Saskatchewan quickly teamed up to put in a bid, which ultimately was unsuccessful.

“Of course it’s disappointing. We felt that we had a great bid to Hockey Canada,” said Scott Ford, the executive director of Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre.

“We also knew that there was a chance that they would go east, but we’re pleased with the work we did and the preparation that our Saskatchewan bid team did.”

It’s the first time since 2003 the event will be held in the Maritimes. Saskatchewan has played host to the tournament twice before, in 1991 and 2010.

The 2022 tournament was started in Edmonton and Red Deer, but was cancelled halfway through due to rising cases of COVID-19. The ’22 event now is to be held in August in Edmonton.

Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said Hockey Canada never provided a specific reason why it chose Moncton and Halifax over Saskatchewan, but she suspects it’s because of the 2022 tournament.

“If you look at it, the west has had the world juniors recently,” she said. “It’s just that balanced approach to making sure East Coast and West Coast both get opportunities to host.

“I think it was just (Atlantic Canada’s) turn and again, we hope they do a great job and we look forward to bidding on one in the near future.”

Ford said Hockey Canada had to make a tough decision, mainly because of how many top-tier bids came in from across the country.

“Originally, we were told that the decision was going to be made very quickly and it actually took them a couple of weeks to go through it,” Ford said.

“I thought we had an amazing proposal. I’ve seen the winning proposal that Saskatchewan has presented in the past and won the world juniors. Our proposal we put forward was as strong as anything we’ve ever done.”

After the IIHF pulled hosting rights for 2023 from Russia and turned to Hockey Canada to find a replacement, cities across Canada shifted into high gear to assemble bids.

Tourism Regina and Tourism Saskatoon spearheaded the Saskatchewan effort, saying they were going potentially play games in centres like Humboldt, Swift Current, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw as well as Regina and Saskatoon.

For Clovechok and Masters, it was exciting to see the joint effort.

“Typically, Regina and Saskatoon will compete,” Clovechok said. “But together, we came up with a remarkable bid to host the world juniors in a record time.”

“It really pulled all of us together and we know that we can do this on an ongoing basis now,” Masters added. “We’re going to continue bidding because we want to host, but at the end of the day, Canada is going to be represented well (in the Maritimes) and we just want Team Canada to come out on top.”

The Moncton-Halifax bid features arenas that were built over the last five years. Masters said Regina city officials are still looking into what to do with the Brandt Centre, but doesn’t think they’ll need a new arena to host the tournament in the future.

“I don’t think we’ll get one built (for the next time Canada hosts), but we do know the arena planning strategy committee continues to work on the replacement of the Brandt Centre,” she said.

“I think sometime in the next few months, council will be briefed on some of its opportunities and then we’ll have to put the financing package together and move forward on that basis.”

Even though hockey fans in Saskatchewan won’t be seeing the tournament in 2023, Clovechok had a message for them.

“A big thanks to everyone in Saskatchewan who put their green shirts on (and) who called upon Hockey Canada and the federation to ‘Bring it Home,’ ” she said, referring to the bid’s slogan. “We’re really proud of our efforts — and our next chance is in 2025.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker and Dallas Dahlseide and 980 CJME’s Shane Clausing