Vernon shortlisted as finalist to host 2014 Royal Bank Cup Junior A Hockey Championship

 By Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star Published: February 28, 2012 11:00 AM 
And then there were two. Including Vernon. The local committee bidding to host the 2014 Royal Bank Cup Junior A Hockey Championship learned Monday it has been short-listed as a finalist. Vernon is believed to be up against Terrebonne, Quebec, a Montreal suburb, to host the 2014 national championship which, if successful, would be played at the Wesbild Centre. “We’re very excited,” said bid committee co-chair Mike Lane of Monday’s news. “We’ve been waiting for the announcement. We had a pretty good feeling, in dealing with Hockey Canada, that we would get there. They seemed excited by our bid and we had very good feedback on our bid package.” Hockey Canada would not say who the other finalist is, but Lane said he’s guessing it’s Terrebonne based on some research he and the bid committee have done. The local committee will now have a month to prepare an in-person presentation to deliver to Hockey Canada in Calgary on March 28. “We’ll put together a good presentation, we have a good package and a good team, so we’re feeling very confident,” said Lane. Helping the presentation will be the fact the committee can show Hockey Canada there is plenty of volunteer support available in the North Okanagan, after more than 2,400 signed up to assist with last weekend’s B.C. Winter Games. What will also help the Vernon bid, said Lane, is having the business community come on board. “If we can start getting corporate sponsorship on board, that will give us a strong case to win the bid,” said Lane. Anybody willing to help can call Lane at 250-309-8851, Chris Collard at 250-938-1770 or Don Klepp at 250-549-3092. Hockey Canada will announce the 2014 host during this year’s Royal Bank Cup tournament in May in Humboldt, Sask.