The host Rimouski Oceanic will wear commemorative jerseys honouring the Canadian armed forces during the opening game of the Mastercard Memorial Cup against the Kelowna Rockets on Friday.
The jerseys will then be auctioned on eBay, with proceeds going to the Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund, which supports veterans and their families as well as other charities. The jersey design is derived from the HMCS Rimouski, a Flower class corvette which escorted convoys of ships during the Second World War.
An auction of Kitchener Rangers commemorative jerseys last year earned $50,000.
The Memorial Cup was first presented in 1919 as a memorial to Canadian service personnel killed during the First World War.
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IN THE FAMILY: Kelowna defenceman Collin Bowman wants to keep the Memorial Cup in the family.
Last year, his brother Drayson Bowman, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect, helped the Spokane Chiefs win the Cup.
Collin Bowman is eligible for this year's draft.
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KEY LOSSES: Both the Kelowna Rockets and Windsor Spitfires reached the Memorial Cup despite missing key players who are still eligible for junior hockey but who were kept by their NHL clubs after being drafted in the first round last June.
The Rockets lost defenceman Luke Schenn, now a regular with the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the Spitfires are without Josh Bailey, who played this season for the New York Islanders.
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LONG JOURNEY: The Oceanic started out as the Sherbrooke Castors in 1969. They became the St. Jean Castors in 1982 and the St. Jean Lynx in 1989 before moving to Rimouski in 1995.
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