Despite some outbreaks across the country, the NHL is still planning on playing their Stanley Cup Tournament this Summer and are starting to move forward with the process.
On Tuesday, the NHL provided a bit of an update on the two potential host cities for the tournament. Per TSN reporter Pierre LeBrun, the NHL has eliminated two of the potential host cities, Dallas & Pittsburgh, leaving us with now six candidates. Among the six? Chicago.
Dallas and Pittsburgh have also been informed they are no longer in the Hub city process, joining Columbus and Minnesota on the outs. The six that remain are Vegas, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, LA and Chicago.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 23, 2020
The city of Chicago joins Las Vegas, Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles and Edmonton as the final six for two spots. Columbus and Minnesota were previously eliminated.
Chicago is set to hit Phase 4 of their RESTORE Illinois plan on Friday, allowing for more places to open up including indoor seating at 25 percent. What makes the city attractive is the numerous hotels and a good stadium to play the games. The state of Illinois is also seeing decreases in COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalization rate, another good sign.
Canada seems to have COVID-19 under more control which would make the three cities, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver also attractive destinations. Las Vegas opened up a few weeks back but is predicted to be a hot bed in the coming weeks, something that is worth monitoring.
There’s no set date on when the NHL will announce the two cities that will host but it’s likely coming very soon as teams are already practicing and will host training camp very soon. For more on this, check back with ChiCitySports for the latest.
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