Members of the Windsor Spitfires camp are flying out to Red Deer, Alberta this week to get a better understanding of what it takes to host a Memorial Cup.
The Windsor Spitfires won its bid to host the prestigious hockey tournament May 18-28, 2017.
Spitfires Governor and Memorial Cup Host Committee Chair John Savage says they aim to improve off what Red Deer is doing.
"Our goal out there is to see what the business is that we need to be able to put here," Savage says. "So, we're going to take a look at all of the facilities, we're going to take a look at the activities they're engaged in out there."
He says the Spitfires' financial committment is a "significant one" in the "seven figures." Bottom line, Savage says it's the organization's job to fill the stands for the entire ten-day tournament.
Roughly 20 people are heading west to mingle with hosting officials in Red Deer, one of those being Spitfires VP and General Manager Warren Rychel.
During his time he'll be looking at the hockey side of things.
"I think the biggest thing is showing Rocky [Thompson] what it's about, the four teams [and] how really good these teams are at the end," he says. "That's what we'll expect here in a year's time. How to prepare, what the teams do [differently], different coaching styles, different refereeing throughout the tournament as oppose to league play."
Officials also say they will need 200-300 volunteers for the event.
