The day our local junior hockey team, the Oakville Blades, have been playing for all year long is almost here: after a long 2023-24 season, the Centennial Cup begins in Oakville this Thursday, May 9 at Sixteen-Mile Sports Complex.
What is the Centennial Cup?
The Centennial Cup is a yearly hockey tournament held in one Canadian city. It features the champions from all Junior "A" hockey clubs from around the country, along with the host team - which this year is our own Oakville Blades.
In the past, the tournament has featured some of the hockey world's greatest stars; the most notable player being Stanley Cup Champion Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, who played in the tournament in 2016 and 2017 when the event was then called the RBC Cup.
The Centennial Cup is one of the hardest trophies to win in all of junior hockey. To gain entrance into the tournament, a team needs to win their league championship - an almost impossible task on its own.
After going through the long and strenuous playoffs in your own team’s league, you need to travel to a different city and play another gruelling tournament against the best teams in Canada. Teams that have won these tournaments have been remembered as some of the best teams in Junior "A" Hockey history.
The tournament is also expected to bring in big dollars for local businesses: as much as $5 million could be spent at local businesses as the town hosts the tournament.
Read more here: Centennial Cup estimated to bring $5 million for Oakville businesses
How did Oakville become this year's hosts?
In January of 2023, the Oakville Blades announced the organization would be submitting a bid to host the all-important tournament and were "extremely confident" that the team to win the bid.
This was a shocking move by Oakville at the time because the team didn't make the playoffs last season, let alone compete with the best teams Canada-wide
But the Blades went forward with the bid, and on May 5, 2023, a press conference was held at Sixteen-Mile Sports Complex to announce that the team and city had won the bid to host and the planning for the tournament started that day.
Both the town of Oakville and the Blades themselves have worked tirelessly to provide an amazing experience for the incoming players, their friends and families, and for fans to enjoy the event.
What teams are competing in the tournament?
It took a while for all the teams to be announced due to the playoff series’ in other leagues needing to conclude. Now that those series’ are over, we have our competing teams, as first reported by Oakville News last week:
- Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL)
- Melfort Mustangs of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL)
- Sioux Lookout Bombers of the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL)
- Greater Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL)
- Navan Grads of the Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL)
- Miramichi Timberwolves of the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL)
- Collège Français de Longueuil of the Quebec Junior Hockey League (LHAAAJQ)
- Collingwood Blues of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL)
- Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL)
Being this host city, the Oakville Blades also get to compete as the host team. (Normally, the Blades compete in the OJHL, same as the Collingwood Blues.)
Read more here: Oakville-hosted Centennial Cup field finalized
Games will begin this Thursday, May 9th at Sixteen-Mile Sports Complex with the opening game beginning at 12:00 p.m.
Where can I buy tickets?
Limited tickets remain for the tournament. For tickets to the event, you can visit the official event website online here.
You can also order tickets from the Oakville Blades official team website.