The Ontario Hockey League announced early this week that they will wait until next week to formally announce the successful bidder to host the 2011 Memorial Cup.
The Junior Hockey Championship tournament rotates from Quebec, to the West & then back to Ontario on a 3 year basis.
The 2010 Championship begins in 8 days at Brandon, Manitoba.
The 2011 Championship will be staged at Barrie, at Kingston, in Mississauga or at Windsor next May.
The 4 OHL centers have each submitted their bids, all 4 have made formal presentations to the Selection Committee, and the final decision from that committee will be announced next week.
The timing of the selection announcement was designed to avoid any overlap with the 2010 OHL Championship Series which featured 2 of the competing bidders; the Colts & Spitfires, plus, the timing of the announcement will give the successful bidder ample opportunity to get to Brandon this year and conduct a thorough fact-finding session to prepare for 2011.
The handicap sheet that I’ve designed, rules out Barrie and Kingston, I just don’t forsee them having exceptional teams based on the existing rosters.
That leaves St Mike’s & Windsor and, for a variety of reasons, I say, Windsor gets it.
But as always, the OHL seldom cares and almost never asks what I think, so it will be interesting to see who gets the 2011 Memorial Cup
I’m Fred Wallace