By Craig Westcott/November 4, 2022
They’ve represented Newfoundland at the Atlantic Canadian Junior Hockey championships perhaps more than other team in the province and now the Marks Mount Pearl Blades will get to host the big tournament in 2024.
Named after a long-time Newfoundland hockey volunteer, the Don Johnson Cup for the top Junior B teams in Atlantic Canada will be held from April 23 to the 28, 2024 at the Glacier.
"This is a big announcement for the league, for the Blades' organization, for Hockey NL, and certainly for the City of Mount Pearl," said Nicholas Hillier, the public relations director for the St. John’s Junior Hockey League at a press conference held Sunday evening at the Glacier. “This is the first time since 2016 that Newfoundland and Labrador has hosted the event. A team from Newfoundland and Labrador has not won the Don Johnson Memorial Cup since 2009 when the St. John’s Junior Caps defeated the Sherwood Falcons in Bay Roberts.”
The president of the Marks Mount Pearl Blades, Wally O’Neill, will lead the team of volunteers who will be tasked with hosting the tournament.
"The Marks Mount Pearl Junior Blades have a long history with the Don Johnson Memorial Cup," said O'Neill, "winning the cup in 1986 and hosting the championship in 2003. We have represented the province in two of the three last championships held."
The championships were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"In Membertou, Nova Scotia in 2018 we fell short to the Cameron Junior Miners in the championship game," O'Neill noted. "This past April, in Cocagne, New Brunswick, we lost in the crossovers to the Kent Coyotes who went on to win the championship. I can tell you we were treated to some exciting junior hockey at those events, and I am sure that the 2024 championship will not disappoint. What was equally impressive was the warmth and hospitality that we received in both communities from everyone involved. This will be our time to treat the participants (who come) to our city to our hospitality. Working together with the City of Mount Pearl, the corporate community and our great volunteers, the Marks Mount Pearl Junior Blades are looking forward to delivering a fantastic hockey experience for all the players, coaches and fans in April 2024."
Mount Pearl Mayor Dave Aker told the various hockey officials gathered in the room for the press conference that it was an important announcement. He congratulated O'Neill and the Blades' organizers, players and volunteers for the well-deserved honour of winning the hosting duties.
"Your track record in the last three years has been astounding, and I think you're going to work your winning ways right straight through to a very successful Don Johnson Cup in 2024," Aker said. "People may ask, why are we announcing it now, some 18 months before the cup will be held? It's because we in Mount Pearl know what it's like to have lots of volunteers to put off an event like this, and Wally knows you'll have your work cut out for you. But you'll have a supporting team, I know, like you always do throughout the year. And the City is on board with our first-class facility that we have here at the Glacier. You'll be liaising with our community recreation crew led by Jason Collins, who is our director of recreation and public safety. And I know that council supports this as well as the community."
Aker also commended the St. John's Junior Hockey League and Hockey NL for the way those groups have been run the past few years and thanked them for supporting the Blades’ bid to land the tournament.
"We look forward to some fantastic hockey being played here in the spring of 2024,” said the mayor.
In an interview after the announcement, O'Neill said the Blades will appoint a number of subcommittees and reckoned some 30 to 40 volunteers will help organize and stage the event.
"It's the first time it's been back here (in Newfoundland) in eight years," O'Neill said. "There was some competition for it this year, which is great to see and we're hoping to set the footprint for moving forward in hosting."
As the host organization, the Blades will get to play in the tournament even if they don't win the St. John's Junior Hockey League title in 2024, which is the qualifying event for Newfoundland teams.
"But obviously we'd love to win the league in 2024 as well and go in there not on a pass,” O’Neill admitted. “We want to win every year. So does every other team in the league. The competition and the parity in the league this year is fantastic. This is a hard tournament to win. We've been there, we've seen it firsthand. It's fantastic hockey, and from a team perspective, we've got our work cut out for us. So, over the next 18 months we've got to prepare for this."
Mayor Aker acknowledged the event fits in perfectly with the City's strategy of being a sports tourism destination.
"We live in a great region where we have a lot to offer," said Aker. "And I figure the Glacier is probably one of the better places to host a tournament of this size. I don't think you're going to get 5,00 or 6,000 fans showing up for it, but we have a seating capacity of well over a thousand, so the Glacier is the perfect spot for it, and we're central within the region. The St. John's Junior Hockey League operates from Bay Roberts all the way down to Mobile on the ‘Shore and you have all the communities in between, so I think we're ideally located. And the Blades, under their sponsorship and the leadership of their volunteers led by Wally O'Neill, have a great record over the last few years. They produce winning teams and they're a real success story within the St. John's Junior Hockey League."
Aker said the City will help in any way it can.
"There are meetings coming up in November. The planning has to begin way sooner than the event itself, in terms of Wally and them organizing volunteers and also in setting up schedules and working out the details,” Aker said. “I guess at the end of the day, the Blades are going to work out a budget, to which we haven't committed anything at this time, but obviously those conversations will happen to see how the City can further make the Don Johnson Cup in 2024 a success."
With teams, their entourages and fans coming from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to stay for a week, the mayor acknowledged the tournament will have an economic impact on the region as well as Mount Pearl itself.
"We'll put our famous hospitality on display in 2024 when they come from all over Atlantic Canada," he allowed.
