Red Deer Rebels beat out Vancouver Giants to host the 2016 Memorial Cup

Alberta is poised to host its first MasterCard Memorial Cup since it was held in Calgary in 1974. The WHL gave the nod to the Red Deer Rebels over the Vancouver Giants to host the prestigious tournament in 2016.

The league ultimately chose to give up some revenue in its decision to pick Red Deer. The Giants’ Pacific Coliseum holds 9,281 more people than the Rebels’ Enmax Centrium, which has a capacity of 7,000. Moreover, Vancouver proved itself as an exceptional host in 2007 when the organization set a nine-game attendance record of 13,396 paid tickets per game. Therefore, it seems the WHL put a lot of weight in that Alberta hasn’t hosted the Memorial Cup in 40 years while the Giants won the tourney bid just seven years ago. Losing the 2013 bid to the Saskatoon Blades likely worked in the Rebels' favour as well.

Unlike some past bids, it seems the 2016 bid came right down to the wire. Giants owner Ron Toigo told Vancouver Province reporter Steve Ewen “I thought we had it” shortly after hearing his team lost out. He also added that Vancouver plans to put in a bid to host the 2019 world junior championship.

Neither the Giants nor the Rebels shot themselves in the foot or gave themselves a leg up in how they have started this season. Red Deer has a 3-3-0-0 record in the Eastern Conference while Vancouver sits 4-2-0-0 in the Western Conference. Both clubs are expected to finish somewhere in between third and sixth in their respective conferences this year.

All signs point to the Rebels having a better on-ice product than when the Blades represented the WHL as the tourney host in 2013. Red Deer has a nice blend of 18-year-old and 17-year-old talent up front and on the back end. Colorado Avalanche first-rounder Conner Bleackley, high 2012 bantam pick Adam Musil and sophomore Grayson Pawlenchuk gives them a quality offensive trio while Carolina Hurricanes prized pick Haydn Fleury and rookie Joshua Mahura stand out on the defensive side of the puck. There is a chance, however, that Fleury could make the jump to the NHL next year. This would ultimately deflate the Rebels’ blueline and make it tough for them to compete against the CHL’s top three teams.

Red Deer GM-head coach Brent Sutter is going into the Memorial Cup process in much better shape than Blades GM Lorne Molleken in 2013, as he unloaded draft picks and prospects at the 2011 trade deadline for Brayden Schenn. The Rebels have kept all of their recent first-round bantam picks and acquired some young assets in a trade last year by sending Minnesota Wild pick Matt Dumba to the Portland Winterhawks. Sutter will need to make some trades to better his club's depth, but he shouldn’t have to completely empty Red Deer's draft pick and prospect cupboard to do so.

The Rebels will aim to win their second CHL championship in franchise history. They won the Memorial Cup with Sutter behind the bench when the Regina Pats hosted the tourney in 2001.

Only two teams put in a bid for the Memorial Cup for a handful of different reasons. There is an unwritten rule that the five U.S. teams can’t host the tourney for political and financial reasons. The Edmonton Oil Kings and Calgary Hitmen can’t put in a bid because they can’t ensure they’ll have access to their barns in May as they share them with their respective city’s NHL club. In addition, many of the league’s small-market teams such as the Kootenay Ice, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos don’t have big enough fan bases to compete with Red Deer and Vancouver.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen