Halifax Mooseheads owner Bobby Smith likes his chances of landing the 2012 Memorial Cup.
Smith announced yesterday the Mooseheads are “aggressively” working to bring the Canadian Hockey League championship back to the Metro Centre. They also hosted in 2000.
“We’re not just throwing our hat in the ring and saying, ‘Hey, if nobody else wants it, we’ll take it,’” Smith said. “We’re going to work hard at it, we’re going to do innovative things, and we’re going to make it very hard to say no to us.”
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Saint John Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes are also bidding.
The Mooseheads, who drew 80,000 fans in 2000, also bid for the 2009 Memorial Cup but were edged out by the Rimouski Oceanic. Their lack of a championship-calibre roster hurt them, but Smith said that won’t be a problem this time.
“We’ll have a very easy time making a case that we’ll be a very strong team that year,” Smith said.
The Mooseheads will make a preliminary presentation next week. A decision won’t be made until April, 2011.
“If you’re on the selection committee, there’s absolutely no risk Halifax is not going to work well,” Smith said.
