Prince George, B.C. – It’s time to drop the puck.  The 2017 TELUS Cup, Canada’s National Midget Championship, gets underway today with the first three preliminary round games at CN Centre in Prince George.

The hosts and B.C. Major Midget League champions, the Cariboo Cougars, are joined by five regional champions:  Atlantic – Cape Breton West Islanders; Central – Mississauga Rebels; Pacific – Leduc Oil Kings; Quebec – Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François; and West – Regina Pat Canadians.  They will all be aiming to take the gold medal when the final is held on April 30th.

The tournament opens at 12 noon today when the Atlantic champions face Quebec.  That’s followed at 4 p.m. by the Central against West.  The Cariboo Cougars wrap up opening-day action against Leduc, the Pacific representatives, at 7:30 p.m.

Single-game tickets are available for purchase at the CN Centre or online at Ticketmaster.ca.  “We’re excited to be able to make these games affordable for all families, which is made possible by the great support we have received from the business community,” said 2017 TELUS Cup host-committee co-chairs Shawn Rice and John Morrison. Preliminary-round games are $5 each, semifinals are $10, and bronze- and gold-medal game tickets are $15 each.

This is the second time Prince George has hosted the National Midget Championship.  The city also hosted the event in 2001 when it was known as the Air Canada Cup.

TSN and RDS will broadcast the gold-medal game on Sunday, April 30 at 3 p.m.