Sports scene -
Canadian junior hockey is returning to St. John's, if only for a week.
The city that was once home - albeit briefly - to a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) team will stage the national junior hockey team's summer evaluation camp Aug. 5-11.
It's hoped Mile One Centre will house the seven-day camp, although there's a scheduling conflict with singer Alan Jackson toasting five o'clock somewhere on the Mile One stage Aug. 10-11.
Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson would neither confirm nor deny the junior stars are bound for Newfoundland, noting the organization is exploring other sites, namely Toronto and Calgary.
But the Hockey Canada website indicates the camp is scheduled for Atlantic Canada, at a city to be determined.
Nicholson and Ken Corbett, Hockey Canada's chairman of the board, are slated to attend Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador's (HNL) annual general meeting June 3-6 in Gander where they are expected to deliver the junior news.
Newfoundland is getting the camp because this is HNL's 75th anniversary year, and bringing Canada's best junior hockey players to St. John's for seven days is Hockey Canada's version of the perfect birthday gift.
Because of the pair of Jackson concerts, Hockey Canada may tweak the camp's dates. Failing that, suitable alternative sites - namely the Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay or the Mount Pearl Glacier - may be used for a portion of the camp.
The summer evaluation camp gathers the best 40-plus junior hockey players from across the country identified by Hockey Canada as having a crack at making Canada's team for the 2011 world junior hockey championship Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo, N.Y.
From the summer camp, a pool of players will be selected to attend a final camp scheduled just prior to the world championship.
Canada dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to the U.S. in the gold-medal game at the 2010 tournament in Saskatoon, ending its run at five straight world junior gold medals.
Nicholson and Corbett may be bearing other gifts as well, namely a $95,000 cheque, HNL's share of the record $15-million profit from Saskatoon. It was the largest sum of money ever generated from a Canada-based world junior tournament.
The money has been earmarked to support grass-root programs, namely coaching and player development at the youth level.
Meanwhile, keeping with the junior hockey theme, representatives of St. John's Sports and Entertainment will be meeting with QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau early this summer.
With the American Hockey League's re-emergence in St. John's looking more and more unlikely, SJSE is turning its sight again to major junior hockey.
The St. John's Fog Devils skated in the QMJHL for three seasons before the franchise was sold and relocated to Montreal.
There are a number of Q franchises said to be struggling at the gate, and potentially for sale. One plan tossed about has SJSE purchasing an existing franchise and leasing it locally, similar to the Toronto Maple Leafs/St. John's Maple Leafs arrangement years ago.
One insider even suggests a 2010-11 start date for a St. John's QMJHL team isn't out of the question, noting the framework behind the AHL Leafs was nailed together in a matter of months back in 1991.
That said, what better time to announce a new major junior hockey tenent for St. John's than during the Team Canada camp?
Robin Short is The Telegram's Sports Editor. He can be reached by email rshort@thetelegram.com
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