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Junior hockey championships will bring tourists dollars to the city, says Ice Hawks owner

Tournament runs April 6-10 in Ladner
Ice Hawks Cyclone Taylor Cup
The Delta Ice Hawks are the hosts of this April's 2022 Cyclone Taylor Cup Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship.

As COVID restrictions begin to ease, the Delta Ice Hawks are busy preparing to bring a big junior hockey event to the city.

That’s the message team owner and president Eduard Epshtein delivered to the Ladner Business Association on Feb. 17 as his team is set to host the 2022 Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championships, April 6 to 10 at the Ladner Leisure Centre (LLC).

The four-day tournament will feature the Ice Hawks taking on the champions of the Pacific Junior, Vancouver Island and Kootenay International leagues. A total of eight games will be played with daily doubleheaders, leading up to the gold and bronze medal games on April 10.

Epshtein’s presentation came two days after learning all venues can return to full capacity as long as vaccine passports and face masks for spectators are implemented. The LLC capacity is about 1,000. It’s the first time Delta is hosting the championship in franchise history.

“The arena is quite busy during the games and there will be (out-of-town) people who will stay locally and spend locally,” Epshtein told LBA members. “We do anticipate that it will be a much-needed influx of tourist dollars in the community.

“We’re looking for partnerships and are talking to a few restaurants. We’re talking to a local brewery as well where we could perhaps have a beer garden and a barbecue set-up outside (the arena), so we are looking at all those ideas.”

Businesses have several ways to get behind the tournament from tiered packages to program advertising and in-game recognition.

The Cyclone Cup will be contested for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic. Delta was actually awarded the 2021 event and Epshtein had to go through the entire negotiation process with the city again to make it happen in 2022.

“It’s every three years that our league gets to host this, so it's a rare occasion,” he added. “It was only possible because of support, not from just the City of Delta, but also from the community.

“There are seven user groups at (the LLC) that had to agree for us to extend the ice time as it usually comes out at the end of March, so the city has done a great job in consulting with all the groups and everyone was very supportive. We are very proud of the community support.”