SELECTION COMMITTEE ANNOUNCED

Yesterday, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced the independent committee that will select the host for the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

From a QMJHL release:

"I am very pleased to announce that Gérald Janneteau, Robert Basque, Michel Côté, Vincent Damphousse and Bernard Valcourt have accepted to sit on the independent selection committee. Their mandate will be to select the hosts of the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup," stated Commissioner Gilles Courteau. "Moreover, four National Hockey League scouts whom are assigned to the QMJHL’s territory will be invited to play a role in the process, more specifically in regards to evaluating the players of the four bidding teams. They will act as consultants to the independent selection committee. I would like to thank all five members for accepting to play a role in this very important task and wish the best of luck to the four competing organizations."

Gérald Janneteau, the former President and General Manager of RDS, has been appointed the President of the selection committee. He will be supported by Robert Basque, a lawyer with the firm Forbes Roth Basque, Michel Côté, the President of the QMJHL Hall of Fame selection committee and former QMJHL team owner, Vincent Damphousse, a former player with the Laval Voisins/Titan and former National Hockey League star, and Bernard Valcourt, a lawyer and former Progressive Conservative Party leader.

Four teams are bidding to host the tournament in 2012: the Halifax Mooseheads, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Shawinigan Cataractes, and the Saint John Sea Dogs. The release states that visits to each site will be made in the New Year.

The consensus about this bid is that it will come down to Saint John versus Shawinigan. In Nova Scotia, the stars just don’t align for 2012 like the Sea Dogs' and Cataractes' will.

The bid process is done by looking at seven different categories:

25 per cent: logistics (accreditation, transportation, lodging and volunteers)
20 per cent: hockey operations
20 per cent: arena
10 per cent: organizing committee
10 per cent: marketing
10 per cent: hosting of CHL events
5 per cent: finances

Judging by those categories, it’s going to be a close call.