Meridian to host juniors
The top junior hockey players in Canada will be in St. Catharines in the days leading up to the World Junior Championship, taking place in Buffalo.
Hockey Canada announced Wednesday that Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Selection Camp will be held at Meridian Centre, Dec. 12 to 15.
Niagara IceDogs chief executive officer Bill Burke said the team management “worked hard … to pull it together” after previously being host to the Canadian National Juniors about three years ago.
“As soon as it was announced in Buffalo, we started working hard to try to secure them here,” he said.
“We’re still hoping we might have them from Dec. 20 to 23 as well. I’m just waiting for confirmation.”
In addition to Team Canada, Burke said Sweden’s national team will be using Meridian Centre from Dec. 15 until Christmas Eve.
“Sweden’s having their national camp here as well, which includes the Leafs first round draft pick, Timothy Liljegren. That will be exciting for the community and that will be hosted out of SeymourHannah (Sports and Entertainment Centre).”
Burke said the Team Canada selection camp includes exhibition games against a university all-star team on Dec. 13 and 14. And on Dec. 15, when the team has been weened down to about 24 from about 35 “of the best junior players across the country,” Burke said, another exhibition game will be held against Denmark’s national junior team.
With an IceDogs home game scheduled for 7 p.m. that night, he said “it’s going to be hockey day in St. Catharines.”
Since it’s the week before Christmas, Burke said he’s hoping to see lots of kids and families enjoying the game, and enjoying a visit to downtown St. Catharines.
Mayor Walter Sendzik called it an “amazing opportunity.”
“I know Bill Burke has been working on this for a while now with Hockey Canada, so it’s great to have those kind of connections through the OHL because these are the kinds of extras that come with the Niagara IceDogs.”
Sendzik said the selection camp will have “a great impact, not just on the city in terms of being able to promote how great we are, but also the attraction of bringing more people into our downtown and giving hockey fans a great opportunity to see the junior team up close and personal.”
Burke said the high-profile events will help showcase St. Catharines and its sports venues.
“It’ll be exciting to have TSN here all week, live from the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines promoting our city and our community, and everything it’s got to offer. It’ll be fun.”
Burke said the IceDogs will benefit, too, providing services for the national teams such as skate sharpening, cleaning and maintenance.
“This will be as good as it gets and very high tempo, and I’m hoping there are lots of opportunities for the community to watch the practices,” he said, recalling as many as 4,000 students in the stands for Team Canada practices the last time they were in town.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “We worked very hard to bring them here and hope we put on a nice camp for them again.”