Finally Official:
The Ontario Hockey Association is pleased to announce that one of its members, namely the Dundas Real McCoys, will hosting “The Challenge for the Allan Cup” in Dundas, Ontario April 17-22, 2023. It will be the third time the Real McCoys have hosted this Canadian iconic championship. The Real McCoy’s are former Allan Cup Champions as well as reigning Robertson Cup Champions.
The event will consist of 4 Teams including the Real McCoys and the Innisfail Eagles from Alberta. There will also be a second team from the OHA’s Allan Cup Hockey league and a 4th team to be announced. All games will be played at the newly renovated J L Grightmire Arena in Dundas. The Allan Cup is Canada’s oldest national hockey championship and is awarded annually to the Senior AAA ice hockey champions in Canada.
Tickets will be available to purchase here on April 1st.
“The OHA is absolutely thrilled to be hosting the 2023 Allan Cup Challenge within its membership. We are proud to be bringing this event back to Ontario, especially after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic,” said OHA Board of Directors Chair Marc Mercier. “It only seems appropriate that the oldest hockey association in Canada is hosting the oldest hockey championship in the country in the great hockey community of Dundas.”
The event kicks off on April 17. Here is the full schedule:
Tickets will be available to purchase here on April 1st
Date
Games
Time
Monday April 17
ACH vs TBD
3:30 PM
Monday April 17
Dundas vs Innisfail
7:30 PM
Tuesday April 18
Innisfail vs TBD
3:30 PM
Tuesday April 18
Dundas vs ACH
7:30 PM
Wednesday April 19
ACH vs Innisfail
7:30 PM
Thursday April 20
Dundas vs TBD
7:30 PM
Friday April 21
Semi Final TBD vs TBD
7:30 PM
Saturday April 22
Final TBD vs TBD
TBD
The Hamilton Spectator had an article on the upcoming tournament on Wednesday.
Great to see the tournament back, but very unfortunate there's no support from Hockey Canada. Although I'm not surprised.
Best of luck to all the participating teams!
www.thespec.com/sports/hockey/opinion/2023/03/15/the-allan-cup-returning-to-dundas.htmlThe Allan Cup returning to Dundas
Canada’s senior hockey championship is back after a three-year COVID hiatus
Scott Radley
By Scott RadleySpectator Columnist
Wed., March 15, 2023timer3 min. read
He and his Dundas Real McCoys were supposed to host the Allan Cup in 2020 along with the Hamilton Steelhawks. Unfortunately, something came up not long before then that kind’ve threw a wrench into the plans. A pandemic. You might’ve heard something about it.
“Hockey Canada shut it down three weeks before the event,” says team president Don Robertson.
COVID, you really have been a treat.
He and the other organizers lost thousands of dollars. Most of it they were never able to recoup. Yet they weren’t deterred. Instead, they pivoted. They quickly decided it would simply be held at the J.L. Grightmire Arena the following spring.
“Not knowing … ,” Robertson says, not really needing to finish the sentence.
Yeah, cancelled again. More accurately, it was never really planned at all. Things became clear early on that the pandemic wasn’t going to relent in time. But 2022, oh yeah, that would be the year. Things would surely be sorted out by then and everybody would be back playing. It would be a nice return to normal.
But when inquiries were made about how it might work, well …
“There was still too much uncertainty,” Robertson says.
Three up, three down.
Enter 2023.
On Wednesday it was announced that the Allan Cup — the national senior hockey championship — will be returning to the ice from April 17 to 22 in Dundas. For real this time. With some tweaks.
“And it’s being termed as a challenge for the Allan Cup,” Robertson says.
In the past, champions from different senior leagues across the country vied for it. Now it’s more of an invitational. Teams can accept a challenge to come play for it.
Fact is, this really takes it back to its roots. In 1909, when it was first awarded by Sir Montagu Allan, this is what was envisioned. Teams could call out the holder of the cup and play for it. This lasted about a decade until things moved to a playoff system.
This time, the Real McCoys will be there, obviously. So will the highest-placing team in the Ontario league that isn’t Dundas. And the Innisfil Eagles from Alberta, which have accepted the challenge. A fourth team should be announced shortly.
If winning on the scoreboard will be tough, the stuff off the ice might be even tougher.
In past years, organizing and selling the event has been a year-long process. This time, Robertson only got the final OK from the OHA about a month ago. That short time frame means his organizing team is going to have to be a bit creative to make this work.
“It may, in fact, be a little bit expensive,” he says.
He’s talking about his own wallet, not ticket prices.
“But we really feel it’s important to keep the Allan Cup going and this brand of hockey alive.”
There’s reason to believe this can work. You just have to look at the last two times he hosted. Both events showed there’s an audience for this. Games drew big crowds — particularly when Dundas was playing — and the championship in 2014 was completely sold out. The hope is that this is the kind of event that’ll lure people even without months and months of chumming the water.
Helping even more should be an arena that’s been renovated since then and is far better suited for something like this now that it has extra rooms and some upstairs viewing.
Now Robertson says he just has to hope there’s no airline strike or plague or natural disaster or ice-making malfunction or COVID flare-up.
“Pending those,” he says, “we think we’re good.”
Scott Radley
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com