Perhaps it's time to clear up some confusion over this situation about the Mississauga IceDogs and the exemption Eugene Melnyk was given to own two Ontario Hockey League teams at the same time.
A lot of people seem to be confused about the exemption by indicating there is a one-year time limit for Melnyk to sell off the IceDogs so he can move the Toronto St. Michael's Majors to the Hershey Centre.
There is no time limit on the exemption Melnyk was granted by the OHL governors. It's an exemption, period. There is a desire on Melnyk's part to sell the 'Dogs and have them move to another location. But there's no deadline for that to happen. So any thought he was given a one-year exemption that somehow should have expired by now is a myth.
And even if it was a one-year exemption, he only bought the IceDogs last July. So he'd still have at least until July of this year to complete the deal.
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The issue with the IceDogs, Majors and ownership means Mississauga isn't likely to get a chance at hosting the Memorial Cup until 2014 at the earliest.
It's the OHL's turn to host the Cup in 2008 and Melnyk would have submitted a bid on behalf of the Majors had the deal to sell the IceDogs been completed by now.
The OHL bid traditionally goes to a team in the Western Conference and then to the Eastern Conference the next time around, although the West has had the last two Cups (Guelph 2002, London 2005).
One of the criteria for staging the Memorial Cup, since the host team gets a bye into the National final, is that the bidding team has to be competitive. The Majors won't make the playoffs this season and there's doubt they will be able to rebuild quickly enough to be competitive next season.
So, the likelihood is Oshawa (Eastern Conference) will get the Cup for 2008, since it has a brand new arena and all signs point to the Generals being highly-competitive next season.
By 2011, Windsor and Kingston will probably have new arenas and Sault Ste. Marie already has a new facility. Windsor and the Soo are in the West.
That means the Eastern Conference isn't likely to get another shot at hosting the Cup until 2014.