At a press conference this morning, the city learned Greater Sudbury’s bid has won the community the right to host the 2019 Esso Cup.
Sponsored by Hockey Canada, the Esso Cup is the national female midget championship in the country. Every year, a different community hosts the event, which follows Hockey Canada’s standard six-team championship format.
Five of the teams are determined by through regional playoffs, while the host community ices a team as well. This means, come 2019, the Lady Wolves will be playing for the Esso Cup.
Mayor Brian Bigger tweeted the news a short time ago.
“It’s official - @GreaterSudbury has been chosen as the host of the @HockeyCanada 2019 Esso Cup for the 1st time in history!”
While Greater Sudbury’s @ResourcefulCity account tweeted, “Excited to host the many talented female hockey players for the @HC_EssoCup 2019!”
Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre was on hand for the press conference, which he livestreamed using Twitter’s Periscope app. You can watch Lapierre’s press conference footage here.
St. Albert Slash won the 2017 Esso Cup, the ninth national championship, which was held in Morden Manitoba. In 2018, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, is hosting.
The tournament is played in the April.
The event follows International Ice Hockey Federation points format for round robin play (three points for a win in regular time, two for overtime or shootout, one for a loss).
All games are streamed live on FASTHockey.com (for a fee), while the gold medal game is broadcast in English and in French, on TSN and RDS respectively.
