By Chad Klassen

‘Now is the time’: Blazers owner feels Kamloops deserves another Memorial Cup

Nov 9, 2017 | 12:34 PM

KAMLOOPS — Blazers majority owner Tom Gaglardi says 25 years after the team last hosted the Memorial Cup in 1995, now is the perfect time to go after another such event. 

“We think now is the time to host the Memorial Cup once again and relish the opportunity to show all fans of junior hockey what our city is all about,” he said.

Since the ’95 Memorial Cup, the city has hosted numerous national sporting events, including the 2014 Brier, 2016 World Women’s Hockey Championships, and this week the 2017 U-Sports Men’s Soccer Championships.

“We call ourselves the Tournament Capital of Canada for a reason, and it’s because of the citizens of this community and the infrastructure that we have, and we’ve invested in that we’re able to do this kind of thing,” said Kamloops mayor Ken Christian. 

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Blazers chief operating officer Don Moores says there’s an extensive bid process the team will be working on for the next few months before the March deadline. 

“We looked at the bid that Red Deer had successfully attained and there’s 160 pages of things that have to happen,” said Moores.

Norm Daley will be the chair of the bid committee, role he’s very much familiar with. The team doesn’t know how much the bid will cost, although Windsor spent $35,000 on its bid for last season’s Memorial Cup in May.

It’s also not a guarantee with other teams certain to make a run at it as well. 

“Oh no, by no means is it a slam dunk,” noted Moores. “We know there are lots of great teams in the Western Hockey League that may be looking at doing the same thing.”

As for the 25-year-old Sandman Centre, there are upgrades on the city’s books for improvements to lighting and other aspects of the area. But mayor Christian says anything else is up to parks and recreation. 

“There’s no big expenditures on the horizon. We have ongoing asset management issues to with with this building and with other buildings in our inventory,” said Christian. “Things like roofs need to be routinely upgraded, but in terms of the capacity of the building and that kind of thing, it’s going to be suitable for the needs of junior hockey.”

The Blazers will find out whether they will host the 2020 Memorial Cup next October.