By Hockey Canada

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – For the 41st time, Canada’s top Midget teams have gathered, this year in Moose Jaw, to do battle for Canada’s National Midget Championship, beginning Monday, April 21. The 2014 tournament marks just the third time Saskatchewan has played host since the inaugural Wrigley Cup in Oshawa, Ont., in 1974.

The host Moose Jaw Generals are joined by five regional champions: the Grenadiers de Châteauguay (Quebec), Halifax McDonald’s (Atlantic), Okanagan Rockets (Pacific), Prince Albert Mintos (West) and Toronto Young Nationals (Central). The six competing teams will take to the ice at Mosaic Place hoping to earn one of the two berths in Sunday’s nationally-televised gold medal game.

This year’s field includes one team that has previously won Canada’s National Midget Championship; the Mintos won back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007, and currently have the second-longest winning streak in tournament history at 14 games. While Moose Jaw and Okanagan are making their first TELUS Cup appearances, the other four teams all have national championship experience – Halifax is making its fifth appearance, Prince Albert is in for the fourth time, and Châteauguay and Toronto are each making trip No. 2.

The gold medal game will be held Sunday, April 27 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT and will be shown on TSN/RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcasters (check your local listings). All preliminary round games, semifinals and the bronze medal game can be seen live via FASTHockey webcast through the game summary page at www.hockeycanada.ca/teluscup.

Athletes at the 2014 TELUS Cup will be competing not only for a national championship, but also to raise funds for local minor hockey. Every year, TELUS invests millions of dollars to support Canadian athletes throughout Saskatchewan and across the country, from the elite athletes competing for Canada on the world stage to the grassroots programs that help children get actively involved in sport. Over the course of the 19-game tournament, TELUS will donate $40 for every goal scored, up to $5,000, to the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey Association. This program will encourage teams to give it their all while giving back to the community.

A number of future NHLers have taken part in Canada’s National Midget Championship since its inception in 1974, including 55 first-round draft picks, three No. 1 selections (Gord Kluzak, Wendel Clark and Sidney Crosby) and nine future Hockey Hall of Fame inductees (Glenn Anderson, Ron Francis, Mike Gartner, Al MacInnis, Larry Murphy, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Denis Savard and Steve Yzerman).