Bobby Smith is cautiously optimistic Halifax will get to host the 2013 CHL Top Prospects Game, but doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.
The Mooseheads majority owner said the team threw its hat into the ring "quite some time ago" but won’t know for a while if Halifax will win the bid.
"I can’t say much about it because I don’t want to jinx it," Smith said.
"We’ve expressed our interest but nothing’s final until it’s final. (Event sponsor) Home Hardware could say ‘Forget it, we’re not going there’ or the NHL scouts could say ‘Hang on boys, we went to Kelowna last year and now we’re going to the other end of the country? How about Toronto or Brampton?’
"But it’s not something that has a schedule like the Memorial Cup where they announce it the first week in April for the Memorial Cup 14 months later. It’s not that kind of event. I don’t think they’ve set a date for when they’ll pick a location so we’re just going to have to wait."
The game has been played in Atlantic Canada only once, although it was a slightly different event in 1994 when Moncton hosted what was then called the CHL All-Star Challenge.
The current format features the top 40 draft eligible players for that year and has been that way since 1996.
The timing would be perfect for the Mooseheads if the game came to Halifax next year.
The Mooseheads have top 2013 prospects Nathan MacKinnon, Zachary Fucale and Jonathan Drouin already on their roster so those players should be solid bets to dress for the game.
"We’ve got those three guys and we may even have a European player next year who is a 2013 prospect," Smith said.
"I think it would be a lot of fun for our fans, in particular. They could say ‘We have an idea where the Mooseheads players might get picked but we’ve heard about this kid from Calgary or from Windsor who’s good; it’d be nice to see them on the ice together.’"
