HUNDER BAY – It is getting ever-closer to see who will be joining the Thunder Bay Kings at the TELUS Cup Canadian National Midget Hockey Championship, which goes April 22-28, at the Fort William Gardens and is being hosted by the Kings, in conjunction with Hockey Canada, Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Thunder Bay Minor Hockey Association.
Multiple TELUS Cup ticket packages for the seven-day event remain on sale at HockeyCanada.ca/tickets.
Each of the five regional championships across the country that will finalize the six-team field in Thunder Bay shall be decided by April 7, or in the case of Quebec, by April 12 at the latest.
The TELUS Cup-host Kings head to Tisdale, Sask., this week to vie for the West Regional title as they take on the host Tisdale Trojans as well as the Brandon Wheat Kings and the defending regional and national champion Notre Dame Hounds.
That four-team event begins Thursday while the final is slated for Sunday, April 7 at 4 p.m.
Should Thunder Bay prevail as West Region champions, then the finalist will also advance to the Lakehead for the TELUS Cup.
Down in southern Ontario, the Clarington Toros will host the Central Region championship in Bowmanville, Ont., which gets underway Monday and will conclude Sunday afternoon.
Taking part there with Clarington will be the Toronto Young Nationals, Kingston Jr. Frontenacs, North Bay Trappers, Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs and the Pembroke Lumber Kings.
In the Maritimes, the Atlantic Region competition goes April 4-7 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Participating there will be the host Charlottetown Pride along with the Kensington Wild (P.E.I.); Moncton Flyers (N.B.); Corner Brook Western Kings (N.L.) and the Halifax McDonalds (N.S.)
They too will determine on April 7 who earns a berth to Thunder Bay.
In Quebec, the Magog Cantonniers and Lac St. Louis Lions are squaring off to decide that province’s AAA midget champion.
Through two match-ups Magog held serve on home ice taking the first two contests, 4-3 in overtime in the opener and 6-3 Sunday afternoon to go up 2-0 in that best-of-seven affair.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Region final will feature the Calgary Buffaloes going up against the Cariboo Cougars from B.C.
They will play a best-of-three series starting Friday night with all the contests being held in Calgary.
TELUS CUP NOTABLES: Among those National Hockey Leagues notables who competed in previous Canadian National Midget Championships in their minor hockey days were the likes of Sidney Crosby; Rod Brind’Amour; Al MacInnis; Ron Francis; Ron Hextall; Patrick Roy; Kirk McLean; Larry Murphy; James Patrick; Morgan Reilly; Wendel Clark; Rick Vaive along with Thunder Bay’s Greg Johnson and Tony Hrkac.
For more information on the TELUS Cup, visit hockey.ca/teluscup.
THE TELUS CUP TRAIL
TELUS Cup West Regional
April 4-7
Tisdale, Sask.
Competing teams
Tisdale Trojans (Host)
Thunder Bay Kings
Brandon Wheat Kings
Notre Dame Hounds
Schedule
Thursday, April 4
Game 1: Notre Dame vs. Brandon 6 p.m.
Game 2: Tisdale vs. Thunder Bay 9:30 p.m.
Friday, April 5
Game 3: Thunder Bay vs. Brandon 6 p.m.
Game 4: Notre Dame vs. Tisdale 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 6
Game 5: Thunder Bay vs. Notre Dame 2 p.m.
Game 6: Tisdale vs. Brandon 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 7
Final: 2nd round robin vs. 1st round robin 4 p.m.
Central Region
April 1-7 @ Bowmanville, Ont.
Competing teams
Clarington Toros
Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs
Kingston Jr. Frontenacs
North Bay Trappers
Pembroke Lumber Kings
Toronto Young Nationals
Championship game: Sunday, April 7 – 3:15 p.m.
Atlantic Region
April 4-7 @ Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Competing teams
Charlottetown Pride (P.E.I.) (Host)
Kensington Wild (P.E.I.)
Moncton Flyers (N.B.)
Western Kings (N.L.)
Halifax McDonalds (N.S.)
Championship game: Sunday, April 7 – 2 p.m.
Quebec Region
Lac St. Louis Lions vs. Magog Cantonniers
Cantonniers lead best-of-seven series 2-0
Game 1: Magog 4 Lac St. Louis 3 (OT)
Game 2: Magog 6 Lac St. Louis 3
Game 3: Wednesday, April 3 @ Lac St. Louis 7 p.m.
Game 4: Thursday, April 4 @ Lac St. Louis 7 p.m.
Game 5*: Sunday, April 7 @ Magog 1:30 p.m.
Game 6*: Wednesday, April 10 @ Lac St. Louis 7 p.m.
Game 7*: Friday, April 12 @ Magog 7 p.m.
*-if necessary
Pacific Region
Calgary Buffaloes (Alta.) vs. Cariboo Cougars (B.C.)
Best-of-three series
Game 1: Friday, April 5 @ Calgary 9 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, April 6 @ Calgary 9 p.m.
Game 3*: Sunday, April 7 @ Calgary 4 p.m.
*-if necessary
TELUS Cup Canadian National Midget Hockey Championship
April 22-28
Thunder Bay, Ont.
All games at the Fort William Gardens
Monday, April 22
Central vs. Atlantic 12 p.m.
Quebec vs. West 4 p.m.
Thunder Bay Kings vs. Pacific 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 23
Quebec vs. Atlantic 12 p.m.
Central vs. Pacific 4 p.m.
West vs. Thunder Bay Kings 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 24
Pacific vs. Quebec 12 p.m.
Atlantic vs. West 4 p.m.
Thunder Bay Kings vs. Central 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 25
West vs. Pacific 12 p.m.
Central vs. Quebec 4 p.m.
Atlantic vs. Thunder Bay Kings 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 26
Central vs. West 11 a.m.
Atlantic vs. Pacific 3 p.m.
Thunder Bay Kings vs. Quebec 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 27
Semifinal No. 1: 2 p.m.
Semifinal No. 2: 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 28
Bronze medal game: 1 p.m.
Gold/Silver medal game: 6:30 p.m.
All start times ET
