By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Council backs bid for U of L to host national university hockey championships

Nov 15, 2017 | 10:24 AM

LETHBRIDGE – University of Lethbridge Athletics Director Ken McInnes is hoping to put the Pronghorns Hockey Team on the national map, with a bid for the U Sports Men’s Hockey National Championships in 2019 and 2020.
 
At Tuesday’s council meeting, he asked the city for a letter of support and for $125,000 for each of the two years, from the Major Community Event Grant Fund. Council unanimously agreed.
 
“It’s a huge major step forward for us. U Sports of course looks for local support, and without it I’m not even sure we would have gone forward with the bid. This certainly cements that yes, we are.”
 
There was some concern from Mayor Chris Spearman that the money represents one quarter of the million dollar budget in the Community Event Grant Fund, however McInnes says the event generally makes money and would go a long way to not only building good relationships on the national stage, but would also help to recruit and retain better university players.
 
“For the Pronghorn program, it is a major recruitment tool for us. When you can go out to a U Sport athlete who’s deciding what school to go to, we’re limited by what scholarships we can provide, we’re limited by what we can do under the U Sports regulations.
 
“But when you can say to them that you can come play in a great city, you can come to a great school, and we’re going to be hosting the championships for two years, boy that is a powerful recruitment message.”
 
There was even some talk from McInnes about former WHL Hurricanes Forward Tyler Wong.
 
“You know Tyler Wong is going to be thinking about coming to school sometime, so maybe he’ll think about coming back to Lethbridge knowing that we’re going to be hosting for two years.”
 
The department is bidding for two years versus one year, in order to mitigate financial risk, and to send a message to not only other schools, but to players that the entire community is behind the team.
 
There is no guarantee however, that U Sports will grant the championships at the U of L for both years, although McInnes said that would be an unusual circumstance. They also don’t know who they’re competing against.
 
“It’s a really big secret, and I don’t know why…IOC let’s us know who’s bidding but U Sports can’t. We believe it’s Ryerson, Acadia and U PEI as the other schools that have bid, but it’s speculation… and that’s what we’re hearing.”
 
There will be a question period prior to submitting the bid on Dec. 1, the the submission must be made by Dec. 8. By Dec. 20, U Sports is expected to have a decision on both years.
 
The only other bid for a national championship the University has put in was for Rugby, which was hosted and played in early November.