Telus Cup
Current season, competition or edition: 2017 Telus Cup
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 |
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| Formerly | Air Canada Cup (1979-2003) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Inaugural season | 1978-79 |
| Country |
 Canada |
| Most recent champion(s) |
 North York Rangers (2016) |
| Most titles |
 Regina Pat Canadians Notre Dame Hounds (4 each) |
| TV partner(s) |
TSN (English) RDS (French) |
| Sponsor(s) |
Hockey Canada Telus |
| Official website | Telus Cup website |
The Telus Cup is Canada's national midget ice hockey championship. It is an annual event, held by Hockey Canada each April. From 1979 to 2003, the national midget championship was sponsored by Air Canada.
The current champions are the North York Rangers who won the 2016 Telus Cup in Quispamsis, New Brunswick. The 2017 Telus Cup will take place in Prince George, British Columbia.
The forerunner to the Canadian national midget championship was the Wrigley National Midget Hockey Tournament which ran from 1974 though 1978. Oshawa, Ontario hosted the very first Wrigley tournament. In 1973, prior to Wrigley, the Prince Edward Island provincial government co-sponsored it as part of their "Come Home Year" celebrations.
The Wrigley was an invitational event, with each of Canadian Hockey's branches declaring their respective champions through playdowns held during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The champions were invited to take part in the Wrigley each January, a host team comprised the final competitor.
Each year, the winning team represented Canada in the Soviet Union for a series of games against elite teams, including the Soviet Midget Red Army in Moscow, Leningrad, and Riga. The Verdun Midget Maple Leafs won the first Wrigley championship in 1974, defeating Kingston Gurnsey Realtors of Ontario 5-3. The final game was televised live coast to coast by the CTV Television Network. Media in USSR reported that the last game between the Leafs and the Red Army team in Moscow was viewed by more than 100 million people on Soviet television, although there were only two television channels in Russia at that time. Verdun lost to the National Russian Team, 6-5.
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