The Okotoks Oilers are hosting the 2025 Centennial Cup.

The top teams from nine Junior A hockey leagues, along with the host Oilers, will be in town for a 25-game tournament from May 8-18.

It's the first multi-day national tournament the Okotoks Oilers will have ever hosted.

Tyler King (Oilers Assistant General Manager, Business Operations), who has been a strong advocate for bringing these kinds of events to Okotoks, was thrilled to share the news.

"It's a great day for our organization. I think for the town to bring the biggest sports event that Okotoks has ever seen is something I think is long overdue for a community that has shown incredible enthusiasm for hockey, incredible passion for community events. This is something that really shows the whole country what Okotoks is capable of."

He says this kind of opportunity will go a long way to show how capable Okotoks is as a host town.

"It's helping to establish Okotoks as an awesome destination for exactly these kinds of events and really to help build that hosting resume. We saw that last year with the Telus and Esso Cups came to Okotoks on short notice. With barely a month to prepare, we had incredible turnout from the community, amazing volunteer support. With this event, we've got two years to try and do the exact same thing, so it's going to give us a lot of opportunity to show not just the capabilities of Okotoks, but the unique characteristics of Okotoks that make it so great for major events like this."

Executive director of the Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce Dawn LeMaistre says the impact these kinds of events have on the local business community can't be understated, and we've been seeing more and more of them in the last few years.

"It gives us an opportunity to showcase our community on a much larger scale. You compare it to the Summer Games where you have to get as much of the community involvement as you can to host the event and you hope that through the exposure that you can give back to the business community... We've had experience hosting events at that level, certainly, the Dawgs are hosting national championships for a couple of years in a row. We're getting Okotoks on the map and getting it recognized, which is super exciting.

Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn was quoted in a release from the Oilers: 

"This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Okotoks and our commitment to supporting high-level sport. We are so proud to bring such an exciting event to this community!"