billsportsmaps.com

February 26, 2024

CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2023-24 location-map of the 60 teams (22 WHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 18 QMJHL teams), plus chart: Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (to 2023)./+New team in the WHL for 2023-24…the Wenatchee Wild (of Wenatchee, Washington, USA).

chl_canadian-hockey-league_2023-24_location-map_60-teams_whl_ohl_qmjhl_w-2023-attendances_post_c_.gif
CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2023-24 location-map of the 60 teams (22 WHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 18 QMJHL teams), plus chart: Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (to 2023)



By Bill Turianski on the 26th of February 2024; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-chl.ca.
-ontariohockeyleague.com.
-theqmjhl.ca. lhjmq.qc.ca (Fr).
-whl.ca.

Canadian Hockey League (CHL): the umbrella-organization for the 3 leagues of Major Junior Hockey in Canada. The 3 leagues are: the Western Hockey League (WHL, est. 1966), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL, est. 1933), and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL/ LMJHQ in French, est. 1969). 60 teams: in the CHL-system, there are 51 teams from Canada (from 9 Canadian provinces), and there are 9 teams from the USA (from 4 American states). The CHL as the umbrella-organization was established in 1975, but as mentioned, the three individual leagues were established earlier; see league side-bars on the upper-part of the map for more info. Also, see this…Quebec Major Junior Hockey League changes name to better represent its 6 Maritime teams (cbc.ca/sports, from 14 Dec. 2023).

CHL teams are for players aged 16-20. Two non-North-American-born players are allowed per team; overage, and underage player-waivers are sometimes allowed. Players receive stipend & board, and believe it or not, this actually qualifies as pay in the NCAA’s monopolistic view, so players who commit to an OHL or QMJHL or WHL team in the CHL-system become ineligible to play later on in the USA in the NCAA-system. Whereas around 30% of NHL players have had a US-collegiate career prior to signing in the NHL, a larger percentage – of around 47-to-48% – of all NHL players originally played in Canadian Major Junior hockey {see this, from the Washington Post}.

The winners of the 3 leagues each season contest the Memorial Cup Tournament (est. 1919), which is usually played in the month of May. The Memorial Cup is a 4-team round-robin competition, which comprises the WHL champion, the OHL champion, the QMJHL champion, plus the host team.

The map is a location-map with the three league’s areas tinted.
The chart on the far-left-hand-side shows: Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (to 2023), and lists 2 things for each team…
-Number of Memorial Cup titles (host-team status noted by italics).
-Number of Memorial Cup tournament appearances (host-team status noted by italics).

26 of the 60 current CHL teams have won a Memorial Cup title.
The reigning champions are the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, who won their third Memorial Cup title on the 4th of June 2023 in Kamloops, British Columbia, beating the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL 5-0. {See this, Quebec Remparts win 2023 Memorial Cup (globalnews.ca/news).} It was the Quebec Remparts’ 3rd Memorial Cup title. The most titles won by a current CHL team is the 5 titles won by the OHL’s Oshawa Generals (who last won it in 2015). The most Memorial Cup tournament appearances is 16 appearances, by the oldest Major Junior hockey team, the WHL’s Regina St. Pats (established in 1917, in Regina, Saskatchewan).

The 2023-24 CHL season, with about 80-to-85% of the season played [as of the 27th of February 2024]…
- QMJHL. chl.ca/lhjmq/en. Standings with avg. attendances: hockeydb.com/[QMJHL].
(Reigning champions: Quebec Remparts.)
The top 3 teams in the QMJHL currently are: Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Drummondville Voltigeurs, and Victoriaville Tigres.
Top attendance draws in QMJHL currently are: Quebec Remparts (at 9.5-K-per-game), Halifax Mooseheads (at 8.2-K-per-game), and Moncton Wildcats (at 4.5-K-per-game).

-OHL. chl.ca/ohl. Standings with avg. attendances: hockeydb.com/[OHL].
(Reigning champions: Peterborough Petes.)
The top 3 teams in the OHL currently are: London Knights, Saginaw Spirit, and Soo Greyhounds.
Top attendance draws in OHL currently are: London Knights (at 9.0-K-per-game), Kitchener Rangers (at 6.4-K-per-game), and Oshawa Generals (4.9-K-per-game).

-WHL. chl.ca/whl. Standings with avg. attendances: hockeydb.com/[WHL].
(Reigning champions: Seattle Thunderbirds.)
The top 3 teams in the WHL currently are: Saskatoon Blades, Prince George Cougars, and Portland Winterhawks.
Top attendance draws in WHL currently are: Edmonton Oil Kings (at 6.6-K-per-game), Everett Silvertips (at 5.8-K-per-game), and Saskatoon Blades (at 4.9-K-per-game).




The 2024 Memorial Cup tournament will be hosted by the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, at the 5,500-capacity Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan, USA in late May/early June. This will be the 5th time that an American-based team will host the Memorial Cup tournament, and the first time in 26 years. (Years that American-based teams that have previously hosted the Memorial Cup tournament…1983 and 1986: Portland Winterhawks [WHL] of Portland, Oregon; 1992: Seattle Thunderbirds [WHL] of Seattle, Washington; 1998: Spokane Chiefs [WHL] of Spokane, Washington. Of those four tournaments, the host-team, Portland, won it their first time in 1983. The other 3 times the host-team didn’t win. Although in 1998, Spokane hosted it, but Portland, that season’s WHL champion, won it. The Portland Winterhawks have won 2 Memorial Cup titles (1983, 1998); the Spokane Chiefs also have won 2 Memorial Cup titles (1991, 2008). Those 4 titles are the only Memorial Cup titles won by American-based teams, although there have been 4 other times an American-based team was a finalist… the Detroit Junior Red Wings [ex-OHL] in 1985, the Portland Winterhawks again in 2013, the Erie Otters [OHL] in 2017, and the Seattle Thunderbirds [WHL] last season in 2023.

    2 new teams in the CHL for 2023-24: Brantford Bulldogs [OHL]; Wenatchee Wild [WHL]

Temporary new team in the OHL for 2023-24…the Brantford Bulldogs (of Brantford, Ontario).
From 2023-24 to 2025-26 for 3 seasons, due to renovations to the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, the Hamilton Bulldogs will be playing in Brantford, ON as the Brantford Bulldogs. They will play at the Brantford Civic Centre. Brantford, ON is located, by road, 38 km (24 mi) WSW of Hamilton, ON. I have shown both locations on the map. The team has moved from an 17.3-K-capacity venue to a 2.9-K-capacity venue. But the Bulldogs only drew 3.7-K-per-game in Hamilton last season anyway, despite recent success (as 2022 Memorial Cup finalist).

New team in the WHL for 2023-24…the Wenatchee Wild (of Wenatchee, Washington, USA).
WHL Franchise shift…The Winnipeg Ice franchise moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Wenatchee, Washington, USA…becoming the Wenatchee Wild. Wenatchee, WA is located, by road, 238 km (148 mi) E of Seattle, WA. After 57 games [up to the 27th of February], Wenatchee have 64 points and are in 3rd in the WHL American division. The Wild are drawing 2.9-K-per-game at their 4.3-K-capacity venue. In the captions below you can see the team’s franchise history, which includes a 2002 Memorial Cup title, when the franchise was located in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and were called the Kootenay Ice.

wenatchee-wild_new_whl-team-2023-24_town-toyota-center_wenatchee-washington_f_.gif"
Photo credits above – Wenatchee, WA (taken from East Wenatchee), photo by Jakekoner at reddit.com/r/Washington. Aerial shot of Town Toyota Center, unattributed at in.daotaonec.edu.vn. Street-side shot of venue, unattributed at wenatcheevalleysports.com.

___
Thanks to all at the following…
-Canadian Hockey League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Photo of Memorial Cup (CHL), unattributed at hhof.com.
-Hockey ice photo from dreamstime.com.

June 10, 2022

CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2021-22 location-map of the 60 teams (18 QMJHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 22 WHL teams), plus chart: Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (2021).

chl_canadian-hockey-league_2021-22_location-map_60-teams_whl_ohl_qmjhl_w-memorial-cup-titles_post_b_.gif
CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2021-22 location-map of the 60 teams (18 QMJHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 22 WHL teams), plus chart: Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (2021)



By Bill Turianski on the 10th of June 2022; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-chl.ca.
-ontariohockeyleague.com.
-theqmjhl.ca. lhjmq.qc.ca (Fr).
-whl.ca.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Memorial_Cup.

Canadian Hockey League (CHL): the umbrella-organization for the 3 leagues of Major Junior Hockey in Canada. The 3 leagues are: the Western Hockey League (WHL, est. 1966), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL, est. 1933), and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL/ LMJHQ in French, est. 1969). 60 teams: in the CHL-system, there are 52 teams from Canada (from 9 Canadian provinces), and there are 8 teams from the USA (from 4 US states). The CHL as the umbrella-organization was established in 1975, but as mentioned, the three individual leagues were established earlier; see league side-bars on the upper-part of the map for more info.

CHL teams are for players aged 16-20. Two non-North-American-born players are allowed per team; overage, and underage player-waivers are sometimes allowed. Players receive stipend & board, and believe it or not, this actually qualifies as pay in the NCAA’s monopolistic view, so players who commit to an OHL or QMJHL or WHL team in the CHL-system become ineligible to play later on in the USA in the NCAA-system. Whereas around 30% of NHL players have had a US-collegiate career prior to signing in the NHL, a solid 47-to-48% of all NHL players originally played in Canadian Major Junior hockey {see this, from the Washington Post}.

The winners of the 3 leagues each season contest the Memorial Cup Tournament (est. 1919), which is usually played in the month of May. The Memorial Cup is a 4-team round-robin competition, which comprises the WHL champion, the OHL champion, the QMJHL champion, plus the host team. The past two tournaments were cancelled due to COVID, so this is the first tournament since 2018-19, when the Quebec league’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies were Memorial Cup champions. Rouyn-Noranda is a small and isolated mining community of 42,000, 320 miles NW of Montreal. The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies beat the Halifax Mooseheads 4-2, in Halifax on May the 26th 2019, to win the title.

This year’s tournament [2022] will take place in St. John, New Brunswick from June 20-29, at the 6.3-K-capacity TD Station. The St. John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL are the host team. The St. John Sea Dogs won the Memorial Cup in 2011; this will be the team’s 4th appearance in the tournament.
•so, the St. John Sea Dogs are already in the tournament as host team. The other 3 teams to qualify are down to the following…
•WHL: Edmonton Oil Kings or Seattle Thunderbirds.
•OHL: Windsor Spitfires or Hamilton Bulldogs.
•QMJHL: Shawinigan (Quebec) Cataractes or Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) Islanders.
Scores…CHL.ca.



The map is a location-map with the three league’s areas tinted.

The chart on the far-left-hand-side:
Memorial Cup Tournament Appearances & Titles by current CHL teams (2021)
-Number of Memorial Cup titles (including host-team status noted by italics).
-Number of Memorial Cup tournament appearances (including host-team status noted by italics).
26 of the 60 current CHL teams have won a Memorial Cup title. The most titles won by a current team is the 5 titles won by the Oshawa Generals (who last won it in 2015). The most tournament appearances is 16 appearances, by the oldest Major Junior hockey team, the Regina St. Pats (est. 1917). Note: in the chart, teams are listed, not franchises, thus Kootenay Ice’s one Memorial Cup title and 3 tournament-appearances do not carry over, when the franchise moved from British Columbia, to Winnipeg Manitoba, as the Winnipeg Ice, in 2019. So that makes it 7 for 7 in Canada: now all 7 Canadian cities with NHL teams (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg) also have a Major Junior hockey team. And with the debut of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken this season, Seattle is also in this category.

Other changes in teams and their gear since 2019 are the following…
-Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, in 2019, dropped the Screaming from their name and unveiled a smart new logo {Cape Breton Eagles}.
-Portland Winterhawks unveiled a new logo in 2021, dropping their long-time Chicago Blackhawks-derived logo, for one that features a hawk’s head superimposed over a grey mountain range with subtle ‘WH’ inscribed in the mountain’s crags {Portland Winterhawks}.
-Sarnia Sting dropped the disc logo and went back to classic full-wasp-with-hockey-stick design {sportslogos.net/[Sarnia Sting]}.
-Erie Otters went back to their original otter-with-helmet-&-stick logo, in just yellow-gold and navy (no red) {sportslogos.net/[Erie Otters].
-Everett Silvertips’s primary logo is now the green-silver-and-pale-brown shield-with-grizzley-head-&-mountain design {Everett Silvertips}, and their original primary logo (grizzley-with-stick-wordmark) is now their shoulder-patch logo.
___
Thanks to all at the following…
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Memorial_Cup.
-Canadian Hockey League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Photo of Memorial Cup (CHL), unattributed at hhof.com.
-Hockey ice photo from dreamstime.com.

May 11, 2022

Canada men’s national soccer team – line-up from the match which clinched their qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup – Canada 4-0 Jamaica on 27 March 2021 [Canada qualifies for FIFA World Cup for the first time in 36 years].

Filed under: Canada,Canada nat'l soccer team — admin @ 7:44 pm

By Bill Turianski on the 11th of May 2022; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Canada men’s national soccer team (en.wikipedia.org).
-Canada Qualifies for First Men’s World Cup Since 1986 (by Andrew Gastelum on March 27 2022 at si.com/soccer).
-Canada changes football narrative with Qatar 2022 qualification (by Tristan D’Amours on March 30 2022 at aljazeera.com).
-The tactical factors behind Canada’s rise to the CONCACAF elite in the Octagonal (by Joseph Lowery on Jan 27 2022 at theathletic.com).




The Canada men’s soccer team has qualified for the World Cup, for the first time in 36 years. It is only Canada’s second qualification for a World Cup. (Their first came in the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, when Canada went scoreless in their 3 first round games, and left the tournament dead last.) Canada will play in 2022 FIFA World Cup Group F (vs: Belgium, Morocco, and Croatia).

You can see how far the Canada men’s soccer team has come in the last 20 years by simply looking at their home venues. Twenty years ago, for 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, Canada were playing in places like the 2,000-capacity Winnipeg Soccer Complex, and the 5,000-capacity Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Now, the Canada’s men’s soccer team plays their home matches at places like the 30,000-capacity BMO Field in Toronto (home of Major League Soccer’s FC Toronto), and the 23,000-capacity Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton (home of the two-time Canadian Premier League champions Forge FC). And although Canada’s men’s team did play at Edmonton’s 56,000-capacity Commonwealth Stadium in both the 2002 and the 2022 FIFA WC qualifiers, this time around they were drawing over 44,000 there – twice. At Edmonton in mid-November 2021, in the cold and snow, 48,000 saw Canada beat Costa Rica 1-0; four days later, 44,000 were there to see Canada beat Mexico 2-1.

In the 2002 WC qualifiers, Canada were losing badly to teams like Trinidad (0-4 and 0-6 losses). In the 2022 WC qualifiers, Canada were beating teams like Mexico and USA and Costa Rica. In 2018, the Canada men’s soccer team was ranked #78 in the world. In March 2022, the Canada men’s soccer team was ranked #38 (out of 210 countries).

The Canada men’s soccer team’s recent success can be attributed to two things. First of all, there is a good crop of young players, many of whom are somewhat recent immigrants – immigrants to Canada (like GK Milan Borjan, DF Sam Adekugbe, LB Alphonso Davies and FW Jonathan David), and emigrants from Canada (see DF Scott Kennedy, MF Stephen Eustáquio and FW Lucas Cavallini, in their thumbnail bios in the squad chart further below). Canada has a diverse squad that reflects the country itself. An open and welcoming country.

And secondly, there is their galvanizing coach, John Herdman. In January 2018, the County Durham, England-born Herdman came to the Canada men’s team, after successful stints as the New Zealand women’s team coach (where he led the U-20 squad to the World Championship in 2006, then led the senior squad to the FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2007 and 2011), and then the Canada women’s team coach (where he led the Canada women’s team to bronze medals in both the London 2012 and the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics). Like with the Canada women’s team, Herdman has instilled a belief in the men’s squad.

There is a hotbed of soccer in the Greater Toronto western suburb of Brampton that has produced no less than 5 players who currently play vital roles for Canada: Doneil Henry, Tajon Buchanan, Junior Hoilet, Cyle Larin, and their Captain, Atiba Hutchinson (the all-time Canada national team appearance leader, with 95 caps).




As far as pro careers go, quite a few Canada players play for prominent European clubs these days…LB/LW Alphonso Davies plays for the German giants Bayern Munich. MF Stephen Eustáquio plays for 2-time Champions League winners FC Porto. Both Winger Cyle Larin and DF Atiba Hutchinson play for Istanbul’s Beşiktaş. FW Jonathan David, who has an excellent international scoring rate of 30 caps/20 goals, plays for 2021 French champions Lille. RW/RMF Tajon Buchanan plays for Club Brugges, who were Belgian champions this year [2022]. Winger Junior Hoilet plays for Reading FC.

Young white Canadian kids still by and large dream of playing hockey (in the NHL), not soccer. But Canadian soccer is definitely on the rise. You can see it in the small but incremental progress the Canadian Premier League is making. And you can certainly see it in the remarkable progress the Canadian national teams – both the men’s and the women’s teams – have made.canada_national-soccer-team_fifa-2022-world-cup-qualifiers_squad-that-qualified-27-march-2022_canada-4_0-jamaica_john-herdman_e_.gif
canada_national-soccer-team_fifa-2022-world-cup-qualifiers_squad-that-qualified-27-march-2022_canada-4_0-jamaica_starting-11_plus-subs_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -2022 Canada jersey, photo from lovesoccerjerseys.com. -Blank map of Canada, by STyx; Semhur; Riba atFile:Blank map of Canada.svg (commons.wikimedia.org). -Canada squad & staff celebrate, photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star at thestar.com/sports. -John Herdman, photo by Andy Jacobsohn/AFP/Getty Images via theguardian.com/football. -Canada squad celebrates after scoring v Jamaica, photo by Reuters/USA Today Sports via aljazeera.com/news.
Players…-Milan Borjan, photo by PA Images via alamy.com. -Richie Laryea, photo by Getty Images via nottinghampost.com/sport. -Doneil Henry, photo by Raul Romero Jr at california.funeral.com. -Scott Kennedy, photo by Reuters via taipeitimes.com. -Sam Adekugbe, photo by Seskim Photo/MB Media/Getty Images at gettyimages.co.uk. -Junior Hoilet, photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images at gettyimages.ae. -Stephen Eustáquio, photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez/Quality Sport Images/ Getty Images at gettyimages.dk. -Tajon Buchanan, photo unattributed at twitter.com/[@foxsoccer]. -Jonathan Osorio, photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images via cbc.ca/sports. -Cyle Larin, photo unattributed at sporx.com. -Jonathan David, photo by Jean Catuffe/DPPI/LiveMedia/Sipa USA via si.com/soccer. -Alistair Johnston, photo by Ryan Remiorz/CP via sportsnet.ca/soccer. -Atiba Hutchinson, photo by Seskim Photo/MB Media/Getty Images at gettyimages.com. -Kamal Miller, photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images via gettyimages.ca. -Liam Fraser, photo by BELGA viahln.be. -Lucas Cavallini, photo by Imago Images via transfermarkt.co.in. -Alphonso Davies, photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images via bavarianfootballworks.com.



___
Thanks to all at the following limks…
-Canada men’s national soccer team (en.wikipedia.org).
-kickalgor.com (March 2022 CONCACAF ranking, leagues-by-country).
-Transfermkt.us (for player-positions).
-Soccerway.com/[Canada nat'l team].

June 15, 2019

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): 2019 location map (first season/7 teams).

Filed under: Can PL,Canada — admin @ 2:57 pm

can-pl_canadian-premier-league_2019-location-map_post_b_.gif
Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): 2019 location map (first season/7 teams)



By Bill Turianski on 15 June 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Can PL official site (canpl.ca).
-Canadian Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Fixtures, results, tables, etc…soccerway.com/national/canada/canadian-premier-league/2019/regular-season.

The map…The map shows the locations and home jersey-badges of the 7 Can PL teams, as well as the 4 other pro Canadian soccer teams (3 teams from MLS, and one team from the USL-Championship). At the top of the map page, photos from each of the 7 Can PL teams’ venues are shown.

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): a member of CONCACAF; est. 2019.
The Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL) is being referred to as a startup league. And it is starting small, with just 7 modestly-budgeted teams, to avoid a quick and costly crash-and-burn. There are plans for expansion for the second season (in 2020; see possible expansion plans further below). There will be no expensive signings of over-the-hill marquee players (like in MLS), and for the most part, the venues are small and sensible. True, there are two large, plus-20-K-capacity Canadian Football League venues (for the Hamilton and Winnipeg teams), but otherwise, the Can PL stadiums are all under 7-K-capacity…for now. The plan is for the venues to increase their capacities, as the teams’ fan bases enlarge.

The league has been created to give Canadian soccer fans a league of their own, and to give Canadian soccer players more opportunities, and to give the Canadian national team more competitive players. It is that simple. Seven roster spots per team are allocated to non-Canadian players. There are two 14-game mini-tournaments (Spring and Autumn), with the winner of each tournament facing off in the Final, in late October.

The 7 charter members of the Can PL are…(going from western-most to eastern-most teams):
Pacific FC (Victoria, BC),
Cavalry FC (Calgary, AB),
FC Edmonton (Edmonton, AB),
Valour FC (Winnipeg, MB),
Forge FC (Hamilton, ON),
York 9 FC (northern Toronto [York region], ON),
HFX Wanderers (Halifax, NS).

Canadian Premier League expansion for 2020 and beyond might include teams from the following regions…
-New Brunswick (probably Moncton)
-Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, or maybe Regina)
-Quebec (Quebec City, or maybe Sherbrooke in southern Quebec)
-Mississauga, ON (a suburb southwest of Toronto)
-Ottawa, ON, in the form of the pro team the Ottawa Fury FC (est. 2014, and currently playing in the USL-Championship [USA-2nd "level"].

There are some signs that of solid fan interest. The HFX Wanderers of Halifax, Nova Scotia, are playing to 95-percent-capacity, averaging 5,944 per game (after 3 home games). HFX played to a sold-out crowd of 6,200 in their first home match, then drew 5,387 in their second home match (which was on a weeknight), then had a standing-room-only crowd of 6,244 in their third home game.
-Meanwhile, the first-ever Can PL game [Forge FC 1-1 York FC, on April 27 2019], at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, ON had an attendance of 17.6 K. Since then, Forge FC have averaged a very decent 6.2 K in their next 4 home games (5.8 K v Pacific FC [Wed. May 8], 5.9 K v Cavalry FC [Sun. May 12], 6.0 K v FC Edmonton [Wed. May 29], 7.1 K v Valour FC [Sat. June 15]).
-Valour FC of Winnipeg had 9.6 K in their home opener, but drew just 4.7 K in their 3rd home game (albeit on a weeknight)

But there are also a few worrying signs….
-York 9 FC played to full capacity in their home opener, but then drew 30% less in their second home game. York 9 FC play at York University in the York region of northern Toronto, at a small 4.2-K-capacity stadium that features a fan-unfriendly running track. For their second home game on the 15th of June, York 9 FC only drew 2.9 K. York 9 are one of two Can PL teams that must compete for fans with a local Major Soccer League team (the other being Pacfic FC, of Vancouver Island). And York 9 FC’s ticket prices are pretty high, and are not really a good value compared to Toronto FC ticket prices: they start at $49 (Canadian). {See this from reddit.com…York 9 ticket prices now start at $49 (minus supporters section) after the bleacher side closure. That’s simply too high for non supporters section seating. Seriously concerning}.

-Besides HFX Wanderers and York 9 FC, the only other team that is drawing above 70-percent-capacity is FC Edmonton, who are averaging 3.7 K in their 5.1-K-capacity venue. (FC Edmonton has been existence since 2011, and had played 8 seasons in NASL (II), and were on hiatus last year [2018], after NASL (II) went bust.)

-Calgary’s Cavalry FC had traffic problems in their opener that resulted in hundreds of fans never even making it into the stadium (see this, Cavalry soccer club scrambles to improve fans’ access to Spruce Meadows). And then Cavalry FC only had 2.0 K attendance in their second home game.

But on the field [as of 15 June], Calgary’s Cavalry FC are in 1st place, at 6-0. Hamilton’s Forge FC, who scored two late goals to beat Valour FC on June 15th, are in 2nd place.

___
Photo credits on map page…
Forge FC home jersey crest, photo from macron.com/forge-fc-2019-20. West Hills Stadium (Victoria, BC), photo by Canadian Premier League at canpl.ca/article. Spruce Meadows (Calgary), photo from CPL Argentina at twitter.com/[@CPLArgentina]. Clarke Stadium (Edmonton), photo from edmonton.ca. IG Field (aka Investors Group Field) (Winnipeg), photo from smseng.com. Tim Hortons Field (Hamilton, ON), photo from modernelevator.com. York Lions Stadium (Toronto), screenshot from video at youtube.com/[CanPL Central]. Wanderers Grounds (Halifax, NS), twitter.com/[@hfxwanderersfc].

-Blank map of North America by Lokal_profil at File:BlankMap-USA-states-Canada-provinces, HI closer.svg.
-Can PL attendances from soccerway.com.

May 15, 2019

2019 CHL Memorial Cup tournament (in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada from May 17 to May 26) – the 4 teams: the Halifax Mooseheads, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, the Guelph Storm, the Prince Albert Raiders.

By Bill Turianski on 16 May 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

-Scores: chl.ca. -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Memorial_Cup#Schedule

    2019 CHL Memorial Cup tournament (in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada from May 17 to 26). The 4 teams: the Halifax Mooseheads, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, the Guelph Storm, the Prince Albert Raiders.

Halifax Mooseheads (host team) (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
(It is the 25th anniversary of the Halifax Mooseheads (est. 1994-95). It is also the 50th anniversary of the QMJHL (est. 1969-70).) 2019 CHL Memorial Cup. May 17-26, 2019 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a metro-area population of around 403,000, is the 13th-largest city in Canada, and is the largest city in the Maritime provinces. In 2018-19, the Halifax Mooseheads drew 3rd-best in the CHL, at 8,149 per game in the 10.5-K-capacity Scotiabank Centre.

Click on image below for full screen view.
halifax-mooseheads_scotiabank-centre_2019-chl-memorial-cup_k_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
2018-19 Mooseheads jersey, from mooseshop.ca. Halifax, NS, aerial photo from wolterland.com. Scotiabank Centre, exterior shot, photo by Tony Webster at flickr.com. Scotiabank Centre, front entrance, photo by Greg Johnston at stadiumjourney.com. Samuel Asselin, photo from halifaxmooseheads.ca. Antoine Morand, photo from halifaxmooseheads.ca. Jared McIsaac, photo unattributed at signalhfx.ca. Alexis Gravel, photo from halifaxmooseheads.ca.

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec).
Rouyn-Noranda is located 632 km (393 mi) NW of Montreal (by road). Rouyn-Noranda became populated after copper was discovered there in 1917. For forty years (1926-66), the area was completely governed by the Noranda mining company. Eight mines and the copper smelter are still in operation. The Horne smelter in Noranda is the largest smelter of precious metals in the world. Rouyn-Noranda sits among a string of mining towns (the Abitibi gold belt) in northeast Ontario/northwest Quebec that includes Timmins, ON, Kirkland Lake, ON, and Val d’Or, QC.

In 1996, the QMJHL team from Sainte-Hyacinthe (50 km/30 mi E of Montreal) moved to Rouyn-Noranda. The franchise moved up north to Rouyn-Noranda because it knew it would find solid support there, as well as a built-in local rivalry with the nearby QMJHL team the Val d’Or Foreurs (who are located 105 km (65 mi) E of Rouyn-Noranda). Rouyn-Noranda play in a tiny arena, Aréna Iamgold (aka Aréna Dave-Keon), which has just 2,150 seats, but they fill it up to standing-room-only on a regular basis.

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies were the #1-ranked team in the QMJHL going into the playoffs. And the Huskies beat Halifax 4 games to 2 to win the 2019 President’s Cup (QMJHL title). Rouyn-Noranda have now won 2 QMJHL titles in 4 years.

Click on image below for full screen view.
rouyn-noranda-huskies_arena-iamgold_2019-chl-memorial-cup_r_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies jersey (3rd/alt), photo from huskies-de-rouyn-noranda.monpanierdachat.com. Aerial shot of Rouyn-Noranda, photo by Point du Jour Avaiation, here via gigi461.canalblog.com. Shot of Rouyn-Noranda, photo by Mathieu Dupuis at ville.rouyn-noranda.qc.ca. Shot of Northern Lights above Rouyn-Noranda, photo by Charles Schiele Photography at coolnaturephotos.com/aurora-borealis-at-rouyn-noranda-qc-canada-by-charles-schiele-photography. Shot of exterior of Iamgold Arena, photo by Benjamin Mougin at flickr.com. Shot of interior of Aréna Iamgold, photo by François Fortin at . Huskies jersey, photo from collectosports.com. Peter Abbandonato, photo from chl.ca/article/huskies-peter-abbandonato-named-chl-player-of-the-week. Raphael Harvey-Pinard, photo from rds.ca/hockey/lhjmq. Noah Dobson, photo unattributed at chl.ca. Joël Teasdale, photo from rds.ca/hockey. Huskies celebrate winning the QMJHL title (2019 Presidents Cup), photo from twitter.com/[@Huskies_Rn].




Guelph Storm (Guelph, Ontario).
The Guelph Storm sit amidst the most concentrated area of major junior teams in Canada, with the Kitchener Rangers only about 28 km (17 mi) to the west of Guelph, and with the Mississauga Steelheads and the Hamilton Bulldogs both within 55 km (34 mi) of Guelph. The original OHL franchise from Guelph, ON was the Guelph Platers (7 seasons in OHL, from 1982-89, winning 1 OHL title in 1986). In 1989 the Guelph Platers moved to Owen Sound, ON, as the Owen Sound Platers (2000: name changed to Owen Sound Attack).

In 1991, two years after losing their OHL team, the city of Guelph was able to lure another OHL franchise, and the Guelph Storm were established in 1991-92. The franchise the city of Guelph lured began as the storied Toronto Marlboros (1904-1989), who won 5 Memorial Cup titles (1955, 1956, 1964, 1967, 1973). The Toronto Marlboros (1904-89) were a minor league affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs for 40 years (to 1967); and were in the OHA/OHL (from 1937-89). The Marlboros franchise had moved to Hamilton, ON in 1989, as the Dukes of Hamilton, but that did not work out. Two years later in 1991, the franchise moved to Guelph, filling the void left there by the Platers’ move.

The Guelph Storm won an OHL title in their 6th season (1997). In 2000, in their 9th season, the Guelph Storm moved into the new Sleeman Centre, built on the site of a former Eatons department store, in a shopping mall, in downtown Guelph. The Sleeman Centre has a seated capacity of 4.8 K, and has a nice set-up that boasts steeply raked seating and a concourse above the seating bowl that allows a view of the ice (and ample standing-room space). The Guelph Storm usually draw around 4 K per game; in 2018-19, en route to a 2nd-place finish, Guelph drew 4,146 per game (which was a solid 91.5 percent-capacity).

In the 2019 OHL playoffs, the Guelph Storm were comeback-kings. In the 1st round, Guelph swept the Kitchener Rangers. Then in the next three rounds Guelph came back from multiple-game deficits. In the 2nd round, Guelph came back from 3 games down, to upset the London Knights. Then in the 3rd round/Western final, Guelph fell behind the Saginaw Spirit 3-1, before winning three straight. And then in the OHL Championship Series, Guelph lost the first two against the Ottawa 67′s, but then won four straight, to win the OHL title (2019 J. Ross Robertson Cup). Guelph Storm have now won 4 OHL titles (1997, 2004, 2014, 2019). Four OHL titles in 28 seasons is a pretty decent run.

Click on image below for full screen view.
guelph-storm_sleeman-centre_2019-chl-memorial-cup_d_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Guelph Storm jersey front, paste-up including illustrations from sportslogos.net. Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate church, photo from guelphtoday.com. Exterior shot of Sleeman Centre, photo by Tabercil at File:Sleeman Centre in Guelph ON 3.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Nate Schnarr, photo by Terry Wilson/OHL Images via guelphmercury.com. Nick Suzuki, photo by Tony Saxon/Guelph Today at guelphtoday.com. Isaac Ratcliffe, photo by Terry Wilson/OHL Images via guelphmercury.com. Dmitri Samorukov, photo by Tony Saxon/Guelph Today at guelphtoday.com. Storm players including Suzuki, Ratcliffe, Samorukov, celebrate, photo from twitter.com/[@Sportsnet].

Prince Albert Raiders (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan).
Prince Albert, SK is known as the “Gateway to the North”…it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan. Prince Albert (with a metro-area population of 42,600), has supplanted Moose Jaw as the 3rd-largest city in Saskatchewan. The Prince Albert Raiders play at the 2.5-K-capacity Art Hauser Centre. Prince Albert fills their small arena the best of all the 60 teams in the 3 leagues of the CHL, at 101.35 percent-capacity in 2018-19.

The Raiders were established in 1971 as a junior hockey team, in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Raiders junior team won 4 titles in 6 seasons (from 1977 to 1982). This was good enough to get the attention of the WHL. And so in 1982, the city of Prince Albert was granted an expansion franchise in the WHL. Three years later, the Prince Albert Raiders were WHL champions, and then the Raiders won the 1985 Memorial Cup (beating Shawingun 6-1 in the final).

The 2018-19 Prince Albert Raiders were the #1-ranked team going into the WHL playoffs. They came through in the end, but almost stumbled in the Championship series, losing a 3-games-to-1 lead to the Vancouver Giants. In the 7th game, up in Prince Albert, it went to overtime, with the winning goal scored 18 minutes into OT, by Dante Hannoun {see screenshots below}. So the Prince Albert Raiders won their first WHL title in 34 years.

Click on image below for full screen view.
prince-albert-raiders_art-hauser-centre_2019-chl-memorial-cup_d_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Raiders jersey illustration from sportslogos.net. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan skyline and the North Saskatchewan River, photos uploaded by Rhino at skyscrapercity.com/[thread: Prince Albert Saskatchewan. Exterior shot of Art Hauser Centre unattributed at stadiumjourney.com. Dante Hannoun scoring & celebration, 1st screenshot from globalnews.ca; 2nd screenshot from twitter.com/[@TheWHL] via bardown.com/prince-albert-raiders-win-whl-championship…. Dante Hannoun, photo from whl.ca. Brett Leason, photo by Marissa Baecker/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Noah Gregor, photo unattributed at bladesofteal.com. Ian Scott, photo by Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia via raiderhockey.com/article.

___
Thanks to the contributors at 2019 Memorial Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to QMJHL, OHL, WHL.

May 4, 2019

CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2019 location-map of the 60 teams (18 QMJHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 22 WHL teams); with 2018-19 attendances.

chl_canadian-hockey-league_2019_location-map_60-teams_whl_ohl_qmjhl_w-2019-attendances_post_n_.gif
CHL (Canadian Hockey League): 2019 location-map of the 60 teams (18 QMJHL teams, 20 OHL teams, 22 WHL teams); with 2018-19 attendances



By Bill Turianski on 4 May 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-ontariohockeyleague.com.
-theqmjhl.ca. lhjmq.qc.ca (Fr).
-whl.ca.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Memorial_Cup.

Canadian Hockey League (CHL): the umbrella-organization for the 3 leagues of Major Junior Hockey in Canada. 60 teams. Est. 1975. For players aged 16-20. The 3 leagues are: the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL/ LMJHQ in French).

The winners of the 3 leagues each season contest the Memorial Cup Tournament (est. 1919), which is played in the month of May. The Memorial Cup is a 4-team round-robin competition, which comprises the WHL champion, the OHL champion, the QMJHL champion, plus the host team. This year, the host team is the Halifax Mooseheads, of the QMJHL. (The Halifax Mooseheads are celebrating their 25th season; and the QMJHL is celebrating its 50th anniversary.) The reigning champions are the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, a QMJHL team from the small New Brunswick town of Bathurst [which has a metro-area population of only around 30,000]. Acadie-Bathurst Titan beat the Regina Pats 3-0, in Regina, Saskatchewan, to win the 2018 Memorial Cup.

Currently [4 May 2019], the 3 leagues’ playoff Finals are being played (each in a best of 7 series)…
WHL…the Vancouver Giants v Prince Albert [Saskatchewan] Raiders.
OHL…the Ottawa 67s v the Guelph [Ontario] Storm.
QMJHL…the Rouyn-Noranda [Quebec] Huskies v the Halifax Mooseheads.
(Note: since Halifax is host-team, both these QMJHL teams have already qualified for the tournament.)

Next post will be on May 15th or 16th…illustrations for each of the 4 teams that end up qualifying for the 2019 CHL Memorial Cup Tournament {like I did with this post from 2018}.
___
Thanks to all at the following links -
-Blank map of North America by Lokal_profil at File:BlankMap-USA-states-Canada-provinces, HI closer.svg.
-Canadian Hockey League (en.wikipedia.org).
-sportslogos.net.
-hockeydb.com.
Attendance figures…
-hockeydb.com/[2018-19 QMJHL attendance].
-hockeydb.com/[2018-19 OHL attendance].
-hockeydb.com/[2018-19 WHL attendance].

May 16, 2018

2018 CHL Memorial Cup tournament (in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada from May 18 to May 27) – the 4 teams: the Regina Pats, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Swift Current Broncos.

Filed under: Canada,Canada>OHL,Canada>QMJHL,Canada>WHL,Hockey — admin @ 7:44 pm

By Bill Turianski on 16 May 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-2018 CHL Memorial Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-CHL official site: chl.ca.
-Preview…Why watch the 2018 Mastercard Memorial Cup: Top prospects, great storylines (by Rory Boylen at sportsnet.ca/hockey).

Host team: Regina Pats.

regina-pats_brandt-centre_2018-chl-memorial-cup_k_.gif

Photo and Image credits above – Regina Pats’ jersey illustration and shoulder-patch logo: from sportslogos.net/[Regina Pats]. View of Regina’s skyline, photo by 28thegreat at File:Regina Skyline.png. Brandt Centre, photo by Neil Cochrane/CBC at cbc.ca. PPCLI badge from army-armee.forces.gc.ca/en/ppcli/1st-battalion.page. Regina Pats 100th anniversary jersey (a re-working of the team’s first jersey worn in 1917), from patsstore.ca. Sam Steel, photo by Keith Hershmller via chl.ca. Libor Hájek, photo by Keith Hershmiller via rodpedersen.com. Cameron Hebig, photo by Keith Hershmiller/Regina Pats via cjme.com. Cale Fleury, photo unattributed at twitter.com/WHLPats.

2018 QMJHL champions: Acadie–Bathurst Titan.

acadie-bathurst-titan_kc-irving-centre_2018-chl-memorial-cup_d_.gif

Photo and Image credits above – Acadie-Bathurst Titan jersey, illustration from sportslogos.net/[Acadie Bathurst Titan]. Aerial shot of Bathurst, New Brunswick, photo from facebook.com/destimationbathurstNB. View of Bathurst from harbour bridge, photo from iccimmigration.in/immigration/new-brunswick. K.C. Irving Regional Centre, photo by Kevin Jordan at qmjhlarenaguide.com. Olivier Galipeau, photo unattributed at telegraphjournal.com. Jeffrey Truchon-Viel, photo by Emmanuelle Parent via acadienouvelle.com. Evan Fitzpatrick, photo by Vincent L. Rousseau via letitan.com. Antoine Morand, photo by RDS via canucksarmy.com.




2018 OHL champions: Hamilton Bulldogs.

hamilton-bulldogs_first-ontario-centre_2018-chl-memorial-cup_e_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Hamilton Bulldogs jersey illustration and shoulder-patch logo from sportslogos.net/[Hamiton Bulldogs]. Skyline of Hamilton from top of the Mountain (Niagara Escarpment), photo by Lucasmascotto at File:Collage of Tourist Spots in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.jpg. Exterior of FirstOntario Centre, photo from 900/CHML via globalnews.ca/news. Brandon Saigeon, photo by Aaron Bell via niagarathisweek.com/sports. Robert Thomas, photo by John Rennison/The Hamilton Spectator at thespec.com. Kaden Fulcher, photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images North America via zimbio.com. Ryan Moore, photo by Getty Images at gettyimages.ae.

2018 WHL champions: Swift Current Broncos.
-From the Everett (Washington) Herald, here is an article about the town of Swift Current and its hockey team, subtitled…’Home of the Broncos, Saskatchewan’s seventh-biggest city is a hard-core hockey town on the prairie‘ (by Ben Watanabe on May 4 2018 at heraldnet.com).
-reddit.com/r/hockey/[1986 Swift Current bus tragedy].

swift-current-broncos_credit-union-i-plex_2018-chl-memorial-cup_k_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Swift Current Broncos jersey illustration and shoulder-patch logos from sportslogos.net. Aerial shot of Swift Current, SK, photo by City of Swift Current via heraldnet.com/news/silvertips-fans-meet-the-enemy-stronghold-of-swift-current. Photo of road leading to Swift Current, photo by CanadaGood G Melle at flickr.com; flickr.com/photos/canadagood. Innovation Credit Union i-Plex, photo from tourismswiftcurrent.ca. Swift Current Broncos (I) logo (1973-74) from hockeydb.com/[swift-current-broncos]. Lethbridge Broncos logo from sportslogos.ne/[Lethbridge Broncos]. Swift Current Broncos (II) logos from sportslogos.net/[Swift Current Broncos (II)]. Swift Current Broncos bus crash [December 28 1986] memorial, photo from leaderpost.com/sporst. 1989 Swift Current Broncos players celebrate winning the 1989 Memorial Cup 4-3 in OT over Saskatoon [May 13 1989], photo unattributed at reddit.com/[thread: Swift Current Broncos bus crash, December 30 1986]. Aleksi Heponiemi, photo by Marissa Baecker/Getty Images via habseyesontheprize.com. Glenn Gawdin, photo unattributed at nhl.com/flames. Stuart Skinner, photo by Keith Hershmiller via leaderpost.com. Tyler Steenburgen, photo unattributed at reddeerexpress.com.

___
Thanks to the contributors at the following links…
- Western Hockey League;
-Ontario Hockey League;
-Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
-Thanks to the fine site known as Elite Prospects.com (Hockey Prospects), for player info…eliteprospects.com.

June 19, 2017

Canadian Football League: CFL location-map for 2017, with 2016 attendance & titles-listed-by-team + photo of each of the 9 CFL venues.

Filed under: Canada,Canadian Football League — admin @ 12:28 pm

canadian-football-league_2017-map_attendance_titles-by-team_stadiums_post_d_.gif
Canadian Football League: CFL location-map for 2017, with 2016 attendance & titles-listed-by-team + photo of each of the 9 venues



By Bill Turianski on 19 June 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Teams…Canadian Football League/Teams;
-2017 CFL season (en.wikipedia.org).
-Official site…cfl.ca.
-Schedule, scores, standings, etc…flashscores.co.uk/american-football/canada/cfl/.
-Here is a great blog, Collecting Canadian Football (collectingcanadianfootball.blogspot.com).

The 2017 CFL season will be the 60th season since the CFL was founded, but the competition predates that by many decades, and teams in Canada have been competing for the Grey Cup title since 1909. As it says in Wikipedia, “The CFL was officially founded on January 19, 1958. The league was formed from a merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union [Eastern Canada] founded in 1907 and the Western Interprovincial Football Union [Western Canada] founded in 1936.” {Excerpt from Canadian Football League (en.wikipedia.org).}

For most of its existence, and still today, the CFL has been comprised of 9 teams…
West Division: the BC Lions, the Calgary Stampeders, the Edmonton Eskimos, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
East Division: the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts, the Ottawa RedBlacks, the Montreal Alouettes.
The teams play a 20-game regular season, which spans from late June to mid-November; and the playoffs sees 6 of the teams compete for the Grey Cup title, which is held in a different venue each year. Last season saw the relatively new team the Ottawa RedBlacks (est. 2014) win their first Grey Cup title, defeating Calgary 39-33 at BMO Field in Toronto, on Sunday November 27, 2016. Ottawa will host the 2017 Grey Cup, to be played on Sunday the 26th of November.

In 2016, the CFL, overall, averaged 24,691 per game…
That 24,691 per game figure was almost exactly the same as in 2015 (just 46 per game lower than the 2015 overall average attendance of 24,737). The highest-drawing team in the CFL is usually the Edmonton Eskimos, with average crowds in the 30-32-K-range most seasons, but they never have a decent percent-capacity figure because the Eskimos play in the much too large Commonwealth Stadium (which was built for the Commonwealth Games in 1978, and was expanded in 1982, and currently has a capacity of 56.2 K, meaning the Eskimos play to over 24 thousand empty seats most games). But last year, the Saskatchewan Roughriders had the highest attendance, at 31.1 K. And because the Roughriders are about to move into their brand-new purpose-built stadium (Mosaic Stadium, capacity 33,000), Saskatchewan will probably have the highest attendance in 2017 as well. {See this, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_CFL_season#Saskatchewan_Roughriders_new_stadium.}

Toronto: the largest city in Canada, yet the home of the worst-drawing CFL team…
The CFL draws pretty well. Most teams draw easily above 20 K, the glaring exception being Toronto. And last season [2016], two teams – Ottawa and Hamilton – played to above 100-percent-capacity, while two other teams played to near-full-house-capacities (Saskatchewan at 93%, and Montreal at 87%). If you are new to the CFL, and are wondering why Toronto, the largest city by far in Canada, is home to the worst-drawing CFL team, well that is because a vast amount of sports fans in Toronto consider the CFL to be a bush-league organization that is beneath them. And a significant amount of people in Toronto think that a major World-Class city, such as Toronto, deserves major-league things…things like NFL franchises. They don’t know what they are missing, because, having attended CFL games myself, I am here to tell you that the CFL is a great league, with exciting games, offense-friendly rules, passionate fans, cool logos and uniforms, and, by-and-large, excellent venues that host affordable outings. But that is ignored by the majority of Toronto sports fans, and to many in Canada’s largest city, the priority is in attaining an NFL franchise, whether by hook or crook…Toronto has been trying to steal the NFL’s Buffalo Bills for years now. Hey Toronto: you are in Canada, not the United States. And your country already HAS a major-league pro football league. So get over yourselves and live with it. ‘Cuz the Buffalo Bills ain’t moving to Toronto. Maybe you should be more concerned with the major-league teams you already have, Toronto…because that hockey team you got, the one with the idiotic misspelling in their name – the ‘Leafs’ [sic] – they haven’t won a Stanley Cup title in over half a century. That doesn’t sound very major league to me.


Note on CFL titles… The CFL pretends that the Montreal Alouettes (II), who folded on June 24 1987, actually went into dormancy. They say this today, after the fact, even though the CFL front office back then didn’t say so at the time, when it was announced that the Montreal Alouettes franchise had folded, at a press conference, organized by the CFL itself. But now the CFL pretends that the CFL team the Baltimore Stallions, who, nine-and-a-half years later, moved to Montreal in 1996 and adopted the Alouettes name (right after the Stallions had became the first team ever from the USA to win a Grey Cup title, in 1995). What really happened was that the Baltimore Stallions ownership and front office and coaching staff and many Stallions players moved to Montreal as the organization which adopted the Alouettes name. And magically this franchise morphs into the original Montreal Alouettes. You know, like how the NFL’s Cleveland Browns of today, who were formed and stocked by an expansion draft in 1999, pretend they are the same franchise as the Cleveland Browns of 1995 who moved the whole squad to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Ravens of 1996. Historical revisionism, arbitrarily changing things after the fact to serve selfish and sentimental reasons, must be opposed. How come there are 3 seperate Ottawa CFL franchises, but Montreal gets to revive a dead franchise? Montreal gets to revive a dead franchise and that organization gets to pretend they never won a Grey Cup title in the US. This, after that franchise was pronounced dead, by the CFL itself, two days before the start of the 1987 CFL season. You can read more on this subject in my previous post on the CFL, which includes an editorial on the present-day Montreal Alouettes’ bogus claim to the 4 CFL titles won by the original Montreal Alouettes (I) (1961-81)…
(click on the following link)…
Canadian Football League: CFL location-map for 2015, with 2014 attendances, percent-capacities, and titles-listed-by-team./ Plus illustrations for the 3 new stadiums in the CFL (Ottawa, Hamilton, Winnipeg)./ Plus an editorial on the present-day Montreal Alouettes’ bogus claim to the 4 CFL titles won by the original Montreal Alouettes (I) (1961-81).
___
Photo and Image credits on map page -
-BC Lions/BC Place, photo from infrasave.com/case-studies/case-study-bc-place. jpg.
-Calgary Stampeders/McMahon Stadium, photo from stampeders.com/mcmahon. jpg.
-Edmonton Eskimos/The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium, photo unattributed from stockaerialphotos.com.
-Saskatchewan Roughriders/Mosaic Stadium, photo from leaderpost.com.
-Winnipeg Blue Bombers/Investors Group Field, image from screenshot of video at Ranking CFL Stadiums (video uploaded by WorldWideSportsStadiums at youtube.com).
-Hamilton Tiger-Cats/Tim Horton’s Field, photo by Moe Masoudi/Moetion Picture for The Globe and Mail at theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/the-high-cost-of-pan-am-what-legacy-will-hamiltons-new-stadium-leave-behind.
-Toronto Argonauts/BMO Field, photo by Thomas Makacek Photography via gensler.com/projects/bmo-field.
-Ottawa RedBlacks/TD Place Stadium, photo from Front Page Media Group via skyscrapercity.com/[thread: Ottawa - TD Place Stadium].
-Montreal Alouettes/Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, photo from en.montrealalouettes.com.

Thanks to all at the following links…
-Globe-map of Canada by: Aquarius.geomar.de at File:Canada (orthographic projection).svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank map of Canada by: S Tyx and Sémhur and Riba, at File:Blank map of Canada.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Provinces-map of Canada by E Pluribus Anthony at File:Political map of Canada.png.

-CLF teams’ helmet-illustrations from MG’s Helmets.com (8 ofthe 9 teams); new BC Lions helmet-illustrations from MG Helmets’ template, with new logo drawn in by NY_CFL_fan at boards.sportslogos.net/topic/108075-my-personal-continental-football-league-more-recent-champs. Thank you NY_CFL_fan, you saved me a big headache with that illustration!
-Helmet-and-dark-uniforms illustrations on lower-centre-of-map-page by: Cmm3 at each CFL team’s page at en.wikipedia, such as File:CFL MTL Jersey with alternate.png.
-Several CFL team logos were found at sportslogos.net/Canadian_Football_League.
-Updated Montreal helmet, texashelmets.com. jpg
-2015 & 2016 CFL teams’ attendance figures from stats.cfldb.ca/league/cfl/attendance/2016.

May 27, 2017

Canadian Hockey League: 2017-18 CHL location-map, including 2016-17 attendance chart with titles listed.

Filed under: Canada,Canada>OHL,Canada>QMJHL,Canada>WHL,Hockey — admin @ 5:45 pm

chl_2017-18_location-map_2016-17_attendance-chart_for_whl_ohl_qmjhl_60-teams_w-titles_post_e_.gif
CHL location-map with 2016-17 attendance chart





By Bill Turianski on 27 May 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-CHL official site, chl.ca [live scores at top banner]
-Canadian Hockey League (en.wikipedia.org),

Links for 2016-17 attendances (home regular season) (from HockeyDatabase.com)…
-Ontario Hockey League 2016-17 Attendance Graph.
-Quebec Major Junior Hockey League 2016-17 Attendance Graph.
-Western Hockey League 2016-17 Attendance Graph.


Best percent-capacity figures in the CHL in 2016-17…
Below are the 12 teams in the CHL that were best at filling their arena, in 2016-17. (Best Percent-Capacity, or: Average Attendance divided-by Seated Capacity.) 7 of these teams are in the OHL. 3 of these teams are in the WHL. 2 of these teams are in the QMJHL. The top 2 played to SRO (standing-room-only)…the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL, and the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.
#1). Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL): 103.6 percent-capacity (2,228 per game in their 2,150-capacity arena [ie, 78-standing-room-only-customers-per-game]).
#2). Oshawa Generals (OHL): 100.5 percent-capacity (5,209 per game in their 5,180-capacity arena [ie, 29-standing-room-only-customers-per-game]).
#3). London Knights (OHL): 99.5 percent-capacity (9,003 per game in their 9,046-capacity arena).
#4). Kitchener Rangers (OHL): 98.3 percent-capacity (7,015 per game in their 7,131-capacity arena).
#5). Kelowna Rockets (WHL): 93.7 percent-capacity (5,162 per game in their 5,507-capacity arena).
#6). Niagara IceDogs (OHL): 90.6 percent-capacity (4,804 per game in their 5,300-capacity arena).
#7). Barrie Colts (OHL): 88.4 percent-capacity (3,709 per game in their 4,195-capacity arena).
#8). Guelph Storm (OHL): 86.1 percent-capacity (4,063 per game in their 4,715-capacity arena).
#9). Shawingan Cataractes (QMJHL): 85.9 percent-capacity (3,545 per game in their 4,125-capacity arena).
#10). Regina Pats (WHL): 84.1 percent-capacity (5,456 per game in their 6,484-capacity arena).
#11). Owen Sound Attack (OHL): 82.8 percent-capacity (2,898 per game in their 3,500-capacity arena).
#12). Prince Albert Raiders (WHL): 82.6 percent-capacity (2,133 per game in their 2,580-capacity arena).
___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-List of Memorial Cup champions/Tournament appearances by current CHL teams.
-WHL/ Ed Chynoweth Cup.
-OHL/ J. Ross Robertson Cup.
-QMJHL/ President’s Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-Hockey Data Base.com.

May 17, 2017

2017 CHL Memorial Cup tournament (in Windsor, Ontario/ May 19 to May 28) – the 4 teams: Windsor Spitfires (host team), Erie Otters (OHL), Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL), Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL): photo-illustrations with standout players in 2016-17.

Filed under: Canada,Hockey — admin @ 7:39 pm

By Bill Turianski on 17 May 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2017 CHL Memorial Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-CHL official site, chl.ca.

Windsor, Ontario will host the 2017 Memorial Cup…
The 2017 Memorial Cup tournament will be held at the 6,450-capacity WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires the host-team. Windsor is just across the border from Detroit, Michigan {see illustration below}. The tournament will run from May 19th to May 28th, 2017. Here is a preview, from the Hockey Writers.com,
2017 Memorial Cup Teams Preview (by David Jewell on Wednesday May 17 2017 at thehockeywriters.com).

    the 4 teams that have qualified for the 2017 CHL Memorial Cup tournament…
    Windsor Spitfires (host team) , Erie Otters (OHL), Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL), Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)…

Host team: Windsor Spitfires…
Windsor Spitfires, host of 2017 CHL Memorial Cup tournament…
windsor-spitfires_2017-memorial-cup_wfcu-centre_r_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Windsor Spitfires logos/info via sportslogos.net/Windsor_Spitfires.
Windsor home jersey, illustration from sportslogos.net/Windsor_Spitfires. Night-time shot of downtown Windsor with Detroit skyline in background, photo by Owen Wolter at flickr.com via windsorite.ca. View of Windsor skyline, photo by Tim Fraser/Windsor Star via windsorstar.com. Exterior-shot of WFCU Centre, photo from citywindsor.ca. Interior-shot of WFCU Centre [ca. 2009], photo by Kevin Jordan at ohlarenaguide.com/spitfires.
Players…Jeremy Bracco, photo by Tim Jarrold at inplaymagazine.com/windsor-spitfires-vs-saginaw-spirit-february-23 [2017]. Mikhail Sergachev, photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Michael DiPietro, photo by Jason Kryk/Windsor Star at windsorstar.com/hockey.

Erie Otters (OHL champions in 2017).
From The Hockey Writers.com, Celebrating the Erie Otters’ OHL Championship (by Mark Scheg on May 13 2017, at thehockeywriters.com).
erie-otters_2017-ohl-champions__2017-memorial-cup_i_.gif
Otters’ jersey illustration, from sportslogos.net/Erie_Otters. Erie (aerial shot), unattributed at pinterest.com. Erie Insurance Arena, photo from goerie.com jpg. Game-action photo, by MountaindewPSU at aviewfrommyseat.com/Erie+Insurance+Arena/section-119/row-E/seat-2.
Players: Dylan Strome-3AZ, photo by Terry Wilson/OHL via sportsnet.ca. Alex DeBrincat-39Chi, photo by Keith Dotson/OHL at ontariohockeyleague.com jpg. Taylor Raddysh-58Tam, photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images North America via zimbio.com. Anthony Cirelli-72TB, photo by Claus Anderson at gettyimages.com. Darren Raddysh-un, photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images via ohlwriters.me jpg. Warren Foegele, photo by Dave Mead Photography via ontariohockeyleague.com. On-ice post-game celebration, photo by Dan Hickling/OHL Images via ohlwriters.me. Anthony Cirelli holds Robertson Trophy aloft, photo by Greg Wohlford/ETN at goerie.com/sports/champions-otters-win-ohl-title-on-cirellis-ot-goal. Erie players celebratory pose, photo by Dan Hickling/OHL Images via chl.ca/erie-otters-are-2017-ohl-champions jpg.




Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL champions in 2017).
From CHL.ca, Saint John Sea Dogs are 2017 QMJHL Champions (chl.ca on May 11 2017).
saint-john-seadogs_2017-memorial-cup_n_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Sea Dogs jersey, photo from saintjohnseadogs.com/adult-replica-jersey-blue; illustration from sportslogos.net/Saint_John_Sea_Dogs. Saint John near arena, photo by Jaroslaw Binczarowski File:Stjohnpanoramo.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Harbour Station, photo by Andrew Touchakis Photography from facebook.com/Harbour-Station. Saint John skyline at twilight, photo by DDD DDD~commonswiki at File:Saint_John,_NB,_skyline_at_dusk5.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org).
Players: Mathieu Joseph, photo from sjseadogs.com. Matthew Highmore, photo by François Laplante/FreestylePhoto/Getty Images North America via zimbio.com.
Thomas Chabot , photo unattributed at stationnation.blogspot.com. Callum Booth, photo from twitter.com/SJSeaDogs. Team photo after title-win, photo by Vincent Ethier/LHJMQ Média at theqmjhl.ca/sea-dogs-crowned-presidents-cup-champs-again.

Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL champions in 2017).
From the Seattle Times, Seattle Thunderbirds beat Regina in OT to take WHL title (seattletimes.com/sports on May 14 2017).
seattle-thunderbirds_showare-center_2017-whl-champions__2017-memorial-cup_m_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Thunderbirds’ jersey illustration, from sportslogos.net/Seattle_Thunderbirds.
Aerial shot of Kent, WA with Mt. Rainier in background, photo from City of Kent, Washington at Linkedin.com. ShoWare Center, two exterior-shots, photos by Lara Swimmer at djc.com.
Players: Keegan Kolesar, photo by Doug Westcott via eliteprospects.com. Mathew Barzal, photo unattributed at alchetron.com/Mathew-Barzal. Ethan Bear, photo from seattlethunderbirds.com/ethan-bear-named-chl-player-of-the-week.Carl Stankowski, photo from seattlethunderbirds.com. Alexander True scoring winner in OT, photo by Keith Hershmiller at kentreporter.com/thunderbirds-rally-capture-first-whl-crown-with-dramatic-ot-win-at-regina. On-ice celebration, photo by Troy Fleece/Regina Leader-Post via seattletimes.com/sports/seattle-thunderbirds-beat-regina-in-ot-to-take-whl-title.

___
Thanks to the contributors at the following limks…
- Western Hockey League;
-Ontario Hockey League;
-Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
-Canadian metro-areas.
-USA metro-areas (en.wikipedia.org).
-Thanks to The Hockey Writers.com site, now on my blogroll, at thehockeywriters.com.
-Thanks to the fine site known as Elite Prospects.com (Hockey Prospects), for player info…eliteprospects.com.

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