Western Canada Cup

The Western Canada Cup (WCC);[1][2] is the Junior A ice hockey championship for the champions of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, British Columbia Hockey League, Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.[3][4] The tournament features a five-team round robin followed by playoffs, which use the page playoff system. The winner and runner-up from the event move on to the Royal Bank Cup, the National Junior A Championship.[5][6][7]

History

Much like the now-retired Abbott Cup, the WCC is the championship for all of Western Canada.[8] The Abbott Cup was a playdown championship consisting of a best-of-7 series played between the winners of the Doyle Cup (AJHL and BCHL) and Anavet Cup (MJHL and SJHL) to determine a single seed into the old national championship, the Centennial Cup. The Abbott Cup winner from 1971 until 1979 played the Eastern Canada Champion, the winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup. From 1979 until 1989, the Abbott Cup winner played a round robin against the winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup (Central Canada) and the J. Pius Callaghan Cup (Atlantic Canada). In 1989, the Abbott Cup was divided up and both the Doyle Cup and Anavet Cup winner were allowed into the Nationals. From 1995 until 2012, the format was that the Royal Bank Cup would host the winners of the Doyle Cup, Anavet Cup, Dudley Hewitt Cup, and a new Eastern Canada Championship called the Fred Page Cup.

In 2012, the leagues of the West proposed to Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League that the Doyle Cup and Anavet Cup be abolished and in 2013 the Western Canada Cup be created.[9] On January 16, 2012, Hockey Canada announced the tournament's creation and that the first event was held in Nanaimo, British Columbia.[10]

Plans for the new tournament were first reported by the Estevan Mercury on Oct. 19, 2011.[11] The trophy presented to the WCC Champion was unveiled March 20, 2013, and is named in honour of Crescent Point Energy as the title sponsor.[12]

In 2016, reports circulated that the 2017 tournament in Penticton, British Columbia would be the final edition of the WCC. Crescent Point Energy has pulled its support of the event. Despite at least two of the four previous tournaments having turned a profit, the four leagues involved have found finding a host team to be challenging. Reasons also cited for the scrapping of the format include concerns that the top teams are not always moving on due to a bad break in the short tournament and that the format detracts from longstanding territorial rivalries.[13]

2016 Tournament

The 2016 Western Canada Cup was played at Affinity Place in Estevan, Saskatchewan from April 30 to May 8, 2016.

WCC Champions

Western Canadian Champions
Year Champion Runner-Up Series/Host
2013 British Columbia Surrey Eagles Alberta Brooks Bandits British Columbia Nanaimo, British Columbia
2014 Saskatchewan Yorkton Terriers Manitoba Dauphin Kings Manitoba Dauphin, Manitoba
2015 British Columbia Penticton Vees Manitoba Portage Terriers Alberta Fort McMurray, Alberta
2016 British Columbia West Kelowna Warriors Alberta Brooks Bandits Saskatchewan Estevan, Saskatchewan
2017 British Columbia Penticton, British Columbia

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  2. ↑ http://www.bchl.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&page=60565
  3. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  4. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  5. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  6. ↑ http://www.canada.com/sports/Page+playoff+works/6384258/story.html
  7. ↑ http://www.bchl.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&page=60848
  8. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  9. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  10. ↑ http://www.cjhlhockey.com/news/news_detail.html?newsID=392
  11. ↑ http://www.estevanmercury.ca/article/20111019/ESTMERCURY0204/111019833/-1/estmercury/sjhl-eyeing-new-western-championship
  12. ↑ http://www.westerncanadacup.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=5534&leagueID=21739&page=69226
  13. ↑ http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/2016/06/27/western-canada-cup-format-to-be-abandoned
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