Category: Organization

The 2023 Esso Cup in Prince Albert was five years in the making. A bid package to host the 2020 version of Hockey Canada’s U18 AAA club championship was submitted in 2018. After numerous delays due to COVID-19, the host organizing committee guided a very successful event in 2023 that will leave a lasting legacy for the development of female hockey in Prince Albert and area.

After awarding the 2020 Esso Cup to Prince Albert in late 2018, Hockey Canada was forced to cancel the event 38 days before it began due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also cancelled the 2021 event, with Hockey Canada choosing to host the Esso Cup and the U18 AAA boys’ championship in Calgary in 2022.

Finally, after years of waiting, the Prince Albert Host Organizing Committee (HOC) was pleased to host six teams in the 2023 event at the Art Hauser Centre from April 23-29. It was a very full week of events and hockey for the five regional champions and the host Prince Albert Northern Bears. The teams not only played some incredible hockey, but also enjoyed Prince Albert hospitality including a welcome event featuring live music, an opening banquet, the Hockey House, visits to games by many city elementary schools and more.

A team of 140 volunteers were led by the host organizing committee members: Robin Wildey (chair) Al Dyer and Bruce Vance (Special Events and Sponsorship), Luc Robin and Jim Flynn (Operations) Kerry Vezeau (Finance), Laura Quesnel (Ticketing), Michelle Grimard (Administration), and Laurie Huet and Taryn Svenson (Volunteers).

Female hockey in Prince Albert and area will benefit from the success of the event, which will see close to $30,000 go toward areas including scholarships, grass roots development, as well as equipment and facility enhancements.

The Mintos name has been part of Prince Albert for over a century and in the more recent years has become a Midget AAA midget hockey team that put the city on the map on a national scale.

In 2005-06 the Mintos finished second in the Saskatchewan AAA League standings, but won their first league championship. They followed that up by winning the Western Regional Championships, then the Telus Cup, emblematic of supremacy in Midget AAA Hockey in Canada.

The following year the Mintos made history by doing it again! They won Saskatchewan, Western Regionals and the Telus Cup becoming the first team ever to win the Midget AAA title in back to back years.

In 2014 the Mintos hosted and won the Western Canadian Championships in spectacular fashion. They advanced to the Telus Cup, hosted in Moose Jaw where they would advance to the final against Chateauguay Grenadiers of Quebec, winning in triple overtime. The Mintos went through the 2006, 2007 and 2014 Telus Cups without losing a game and were involved in the longest Telus Cup game in history.