Halifax Mooseheads aim for 2019 Memorial Cup hosting rights

The Halifax Mooseheads are looking to bring the Memorial Cup tournament home for the club's 25th anniversary in 2019.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team last hosted the tournament in Halifax in 2000.

The Memorial Cup is awarded annually by the Canadian Hockey League to a junior hockey team.

The 2019 tournament will come at a time when the Mooseheads's top new players, Jared McIsaac and Benoit-Olivier Groulx, hit age 19, team spokesman Scott MacIntosh said.

"They will be in their prime," he said. "We felt that the timing just worked out perfectly for both the way the team is built and the city will be ready, as well."

The winning bid for the 2019 competition is expected to be announced in the spring of 2018, the Mooseheads said in a news release.

MacIntosh was unsure of the estimated cost of hosting the Memorial Cup, but said a committee of Halifax officials would help organize it.

"It'll be a fantastic event if we're able to do it," he said.

NHLer and Cole Harbour native Nathan MacKinnon led the Mooseheads to victory in the 2013 Memorial Cup in against the Portland Winterhawks.