Share: The Euro Can Cup, organizer Pat Curcio vows, won’t fall victim to the one-and-done reality of so many other out-of-season sporting events.
The former London Knights assistant coach is entertaining early plans to run the second edition of the unique international hockey tournament here next summer even though he’s set to start a minor pro coaching job in Utah this fall and attendance figures for many of the games were lower than anticipated. “We’ll take some time here first before we look back, but we had a great week,” Curcio said. “It took a lot of hard work to organize, but it was fun. Right now, it looks like everyone involved is going to get their money and I’ll definitely be looking to spread the word on the Euro Can Cup when I’m working in Utah (as an assistant for the ECHL’s Grizzlies this year).” Last night, London’s Pro Knights team played Swiss elite club Zug in the tournament final at the John Labatt Centre. The week-long event raised $20,000 for the Shoot for a Cure charity. “It’s a good idea to alternate the Cup between here and Europe each year,” he said, “but the difficulty would be in finding one place to play over there. When we went last summer, we travelled to eight different cities to play.” As expected, games involving the recognizable Knights pros drew the biggest crowds.
But at $27 a ticket (Knights regular season home games are $16.50 per adult), those strictly involving largely unfamiliar European teams Zug, Linz and Munich did not stir up that much passion at the box office.