SaskTel Centre executive director eager to host 2023 world juniors

Saskatchewan has a realistic chance to bring the world junior hockey championship back to the province this winter.

Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre would play a major role in the tournament by hosting Team Canada’s preliminary round-robin games, as well as the playoff and medal-round contests.

Scott Ford, the executive director of SaskTel Centre, said he vividly remembers selling out the arena when the world juniors were here in 2010.

“It was one of the most successful world junior championships ever,” Ford said.

“If you experienced it in 2010, that medal round and those Team Canada games with a packed building and everyone wearing Team Canada jerseys, it was absolutely electric in the building.”

The deadline to submit a bid to Hockey Canada must be done by Monday.

Ford says Saskatoon has an excellent team that has been working non-stop to make that happen since learning about the opportunity.

“We’re certainly jumping on it. We quickly put together a bid committee team. We know that the province of Saskatchewan is excited about the opportunity to host the 2023 world juniors,” Ford said.

While the on-ice product speaks for itself, Ford says the economic opportunity is almost too good to be true.

“There’s $50 million of economic impact that comes to the community and the region,” he said. “We’ll attract close to 300,000 fans attending the 31 games.”

Those games don’t include the pre-tournament games that are scheduled to take place in communities like Humboldt, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Swift Current.

Ford says it’s hard not to be excited for the entire province.

“Not only do Saskatoon, Regina and the province of Saskatchewan have great economic spinoffs, but it puts our province on the international map,” he said.

There are several cities in Canada that will also pitch to host the tournament in December.

“A Quebec (City)/Ottawa proposal is coming in, there’s a Maritimes proposal that’s possibly coming in, and even our neighbours from Manitoba is still considering this event,” Ford said.

“We just know that this is a type of event that our volunteer community will support when we need to get people to pull the wagon.”

A final decision on a host venue will be made by Hockey Canada on April 26.

Pre-tournament games

Just like in 2010, cities in the province could have a chance to host exhibition games before the start of the tournament.

This year’s bid includes Humboldt, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Swift Current to host those games.

Mike Ulriksen, the director of leisure services for the City of Humboldt, said the community couldn’t have supported its lone exhibition game any better.

“I was actually able to drive the Zamboni for the game between Austria and Latvia that we hosted here (in 2010) and I recall how excited our community was to have a game of that calibre,” Ulriksen said.

When hearing there was potential to host another pre-tournament game, Ulriksen couldn’t stop buzzing with excitement.

“I think that’s something our community would jump all over and we would pack the house, regardless of what teams that are selected for our facility,” he said.

Humboldt’s Elgar Petersen Arena can seat roughly 2,000 people at full capacity.

Nicole Spenst, the City of Swift Current’s events and program manager, said the community would be honoured to be tied into this world junior tournament in any way possible.

“That’s the great thing especially with these events. You want to come out and see great hockey, so it doesn’t necessarily matter what team is playing, you just want to come and watch some of the best in the world play a sport that they love,” Spenst said.

Capacity at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex in Swift Current is around 3,000.