The Kenora Thistles are the sixth and final team to punch their ticket to the 2013 Allan Cup tournament hosted by the Bentley Generals April 15-20 at the Red Deer Arena.
The Thistles captured the Ontario senior AAA hockey championship last weekend, defeating the visiting Brantford Blast 4-1 and 5-1 to sweep the best-of-three provincial final.
Kenora will play in a pool with the Generals and the Saskatchewan/Manitoba champion Rosetown Red Wings.
The other pool will feature the Alberta runner-up Stony Plain Eagles, the Pacific champion Fort St. John Flyers and the Clarenville Caribous, representing the Maritimes.
The tournament opens Monday, April 15 with a 4 p.m. game between Fort St. John and Stony Plain, and will be followed by an 8 p.m. clash featuring Bentley and Rosetown.
On Tuesday, Clarenville will play Fort St. John at 4 p.m. and Bentley and Kenora will clash at 8 p.m.
Wednesday’s pool games will have Stony Plain and Clarenville facing off at 4 p.m. and Kenora and Rosetown clashing at 8 p.m.
The top team from each pool will advance to Friday’s semifinals, set for 4 and 8 p.m. The quarter-finals, featuring the second- and third-place teams in each pool, will be played Thursday at 4 and 8 p.m.
The championship final is scheduled for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised by TSN.