UNB gets hockey championships

Canadian Interuniversity Sport has chosen the University of New Brunwick to host the 2011 and 2012 CIS Men’s Hockey Championships. 

A disappointed Kevin Tobin, chair of Dalhousie’s bid committee, said the committee was told their bid was “outstanding,” but the fact that Halifax is already hosting CIS’s national basketball championships (also in March 2011 and 2012) gave the edge to UNB.

“When you hear, ‘there’s nothing more you could have done’ that’s pretty disappointing,” he said on Thursday. “We thought it was perfect timing because the championships have never been in Nova Scotia.”

The committee presented its bid in Ottawa on Tuesday.

But even though Dalhousie lost the bid, there is an upside. Dalhousie had pre-sold more than 2,000 tickets at the Halifax Metro Centre and Mr. Tobin says that indicates a lot of interest in university men’s hockey in Halifax. 

Credit card refunds for those who participated in the pre-sale ticket campaign will be issued via Ticket Atlantic. Refunds will be applied directly to credit cards beginning next week.

As for basketball, the CIS confirmed Halifax will again host the Final Eight tourney, the high profile CIS men’s basketball championships, in 2011 and 2012.

The AUS was the only bidder for championship, which was staged in Halifax for 24 consecutive years, from 1984 to 2007.