Rockets get back the Memorial Cup!

For the last four years, the narrative surrounding the Kelowna Rockets had been the loss of the 2020 Memorial Cup that was cancelled due to the pandemic.

However, on November 27th, the team found redemption as the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced that Kelowna, B.C., will host the 2026 Memorial Cup.

“We never played the card of 2020,” Rockets President and General Manager Bruce Hamilton said. “There was twice in the whole bid it was mentioned, and it had nothing to do with us not getting it. I said from the very start when we were putting together this bid, that we weren't going to do that. We were going to order this on our own and earn it with our own merit.”

The Rockets were one of five Western Hockey League (WHL) teams to submit a bid, competing with Spokane, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, and Brandon.

The last time they hosted the tournament was back in 2004, when they won it all on home ice.

“This is a thrilling night for our organization, but most importantly, the city,” Hamilton said Wednesday evening. “I can't be prouder of the group that we put together to make this bid come true.”

Hamilton noted that the competition came down to Kelowna and Spokane. What made the victory even sweeter was the unanimous vote from the committee to award the event to Kelowna.

“I'm happy it was an independent group selected so that we're not being pegged as getting an event that we got just because of who I was,” he noted. “All five of the voters are independent people from us, and our league. So obviously our bid won it, and not Bruce Hamilton.”

The team aims to keep most of its current roster intact for the tournament. However, additional players—primarily 18-year-olds rather than 19- or 20-year-olds—will be added to strengthen the lineup and ensure a competitive performance.

“We got [Tij] Iginla and [Hiroki] Gosjic coming back for sure, we feel we got a pretty good base which is why we have four 16-year-olds on our team this year,” Hamilton said. “We feel we’ll be in good shape, but we’ll certainly be adding some more things to it.”

Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas, who chaired the board responsible for bringing the Memorial Cup to Kelowna in 2020, said the excitement of winning this time feels like that of four years ago.

“I was just elated to know that this event is coming to the community,” he said. “I was in the building in 2004 when we won, and the memories that are there at that point in time, to be able to kind of bring that back to our community, it'll just create memories for our residents for years to come.”

With a large-scale event like the Memorial Cup coming next year, Dyas noted that he’s studied the significant economic impact this could have on the community.

“I would suspect that the economic impact to our community would probably be close to $20 to $25 million,” he said. “The beautiful thing about that is it's bringing in business in the shoulder season. Not when the majority of tourists are here. It's bringing people to hotels, it's bringing restaurants, it's bringing all other amenities.

The Memorial Cup will take place in May of 2026 at Prospera Place.

Get even more coverage on RocketFAN.ca