Yep

... parts of the country right into Kelowna, which was great.

So, so that then leads you to, to a bit of a discussion about, you know, should you only hold it in a certain number of places that, um, that have direct flights and, you know, are, are destination locales.

But you sorta touched on it.

Now, and I've, i- in these discussions, um, I get, I get the benefits of that, of having it in, in these destination locales e- on an ongoing basis, and I think that's something we have to keep in mind as we're sort of crafting the, the, um, the bid guidelines.

But I do think we have to be wary of the fact that, you know, junior hockey is, its strength is in the communities, you know, small communities across Canada.

And not every CHL team has the infrastructure to host a Memorial Cup, but, um, what we've seen over the last few years, especially as we, as we sorta changed the process for bidding, that more and more cities are choosing to bid, and they, they can, it's within, it's, it, the, the guidelines are built in such a way that it's, it's, it's within reach for a, you know, a large number of teams.

Yeah

I wanna get to that in a couple of seconds, but your thoughts initially on, on the passing of Dave Branch?

Well, Jeff, thanks for reaching out.

Um, yeah.

It is, it is definitely a sad day, uh, for all of us at the CHL and in the hockey world.

We, we lost a legend today.

Um, he, y- you know, he was...

The CHL would not be where it is today without David Branch, there's no doubt about that.

(laughs)

Yep.

... um, uh, play for, uh, team CHL as well.

Um, you know, the, the, the, the, the change, uh, last November in the NCAA rule has resulted in (clears throat) basically... and we said it sort of at the time, it-it's giving players and their families and their agents, you know, um, lots of choices in terms of what their... you know, what... where th- where they feel the next best step for their development is.

Um, and what we're seeing is that in this class of player, this age group of player, we're seeing a massive movement of players into the CHL from a variety of different places, but ultimately, they're choosing to play in our leagues.

And, um, and, you know, JP's one of them, Caleb's one of them, but there's a lot of them.

And, you know, we've seen, um, about two hund- about 250 ballpark players that have come in, uh, and these are players we never would have... a lot of them we never would have gotten, right? They were, they were, uh, Americans who, who, you know, wanted to play...

or who obviously wanted to play NCAA, some Canadians in the same boat, some Europeans in the same boa-... or some Europeans who maybe didn't have the opportunity because of the way our rules were set up.

Um, what about after that? Like, wha- is that like where the, the, the challenges begin?

Yep.

... uh, play for, uh, team CHL as well.

Um, you know, the, the, the, the, the change, uh, last November in the NCAA rule has resulted in (clears throat), basically, we said it sort of at the time, it- it's giving players and their families and their agents, you know, um, lots of choices in terms of what their, you know, what ... where th- where they feel the next best step for their development is.

Um, and what we're seeing is that in this class of player, this age group of player, we're seeing a massive movement of players into the CHL from a variety of different places.

But ultimately, they're choosing to play in our leagues.

And, um, and you know, JP's one of them, Caleb's one of them, but there's a lot of them.

And, you know, we've seen, um, about two hund- about 250 ballpark players that have come in, uh, and these are players we never would have ... a lot of them we never would have gotten, right? They were, they were, uh, Americans who, who, you know, wanted to play, or who obviously wanted to play NCAA, some Canadians in the same boat, some Europeans in the same boa- or some Europeans who maybe didn't have the opportunity because of the way our rules were set up.

Um, what about after that? Like, w- w- is, is that, like, where the, the, the challenges begin?

Great to see you, Dan.

Uh, I, yeah, you know what? This was a, a, I think a, obviously a great night for the CHL.

It would have been gr- great to get the record, but, I mean, 21 picks in the first round is, is our best since the night we set the record in 2013.

So, been a dozen years.

Um, and I think it just goes to show, number one, I mean, the commitment of these players.

I mean, um, it's so nice to see them and, and celebrate with their families and celebrate the years and years of hard work and, and toil, and what it takes to kind of get to this level, and then, you know, have their name called, you know, by the commissioner is such an amazing feeling.

It's just great to see.

Hmm.

But the one thing that I do wonder about is, do you think that this, I don't wanna say battle, because there's no longer a- a fight between the two, but this competition to create a player-positive environments from market to market, how much do you think that fuels individual markets, just bluntly, to up their game? And is this something that you would, you know, um, I don't wanna single out any franchise, but would you say like, "Hey, Market X, it's time to pick up your game here"?

Yeah, I think, I think it- there's multiple layers to it.

And part of- part of it is, as you could be market-specific, um, but I think philosophically, I think there's also probably a bit of a- a bit of a discussion right now, um, that... and- and some decision-making that players need to make, in terms of what path is the right one for me.

And I think, um, you know, there's- there's the one path of, um, you know, play in the CHL, play a- play a full schedule, play four rounds of playoffs-

I think it's player-specific, I really do.

A- and I think that- I think that for our- from our perspective, I think we feel pretty comfortable that, based on our historical track record of placing players in the NHL, um, and professional hockey leagues around the world, that our model works.

Um, but to answer this- the- the layered part of your question, um, we have to continue to make sure that every market that we have teams in-

Yeah.

... uh, sold out.

Um, but what- what really, uh, struck me here is how passionate the fans are and how important the Oceanic are to this community, how important junior hockey is to this community.

And you saw it when, uh, the other night when London was playing Medicine Hat and the stands were full and it was loud and they were following every play.

Um, you know, there's just a lot of passion for the sport (clears throat) here, and then I think the other thing that- that- that's really been neat for me to see in the chair that I'm in, getting a chance to see it in totality, is, um, you know, what is the- what is the, um, host city do, you know, when the games aren't being played? What other events are going on? And- and- and that's where you really get a feel for how, um, uh, for what they, you know, the- sort of that community vibe and- and what it's like in this part of Quebec and what's important.

Um, (clears throat) tomorrow night there's a big lobster supper for, uh, for all the, you know, all the organizers and partners.

Um, we had during the- the- th- th- during the, uh, arrival of the Memorial Cup, uh, last weekend, they had a, um...

Hmm.