WATERLOO (Ontario) - Canadian Hockey, in cooperation with its premier sponsors, Air Canada, Esso and Royal Bank, and the Ontario Hockey Federation, is pleased to announce the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association and the City of Waterloo will host the 1996 Air Canada Cup Central Regional Championship March 26 , at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.

The Air Canada Cup National Midget Championship is celebrating its 18th anniversary this year when Canada's finest minor hockey event travels to Kamloops, B.C., April 16 . The five regional champions from Pacific, Western, Central, Quebec and Atlantic Canada will join the host Kamloops team for the 1996 Air Canada Cup.

The 1996 Air Canada Cup Central Regional Championship will include a host team from the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association, two from the Ottawa District Hockey Association (ODHA), and a representative from each of the Metropolitan Toronto Hockey Association (MTHL), the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA), the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) and the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario (MHAO).

The OMHA opens the championship against the ODHA-1 team at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, and the Central Region representative for the 1996 Air Canada Cup will be declared in the title game Sunday, March 31 at 3 p.m.

"The Waterloo Minor Hockey Association is proud to host the 1996 Air Canada Cup Central Region Championship at Waterloo's world-class Recreation Complex," said Mark Hanley, Championship chairman and vice-president of the WMHA.

"We are also excited that the championship will be held in conjunction with the Father David Bauer Cup International Tournament, featuring the national teams of Canada, the Czech Republic and Russia," added Mr. Hanley. ŒThis cooperative event will provide our community with the opportunity to experience our region's best and brightest midget hockey prospects, as well as some of the world's finest international players."

"The hockey community will benefit from some of the additional festival activities associated with hosting national team games," comments Mr. Hanley. "We are looking forward to Canadian Hockey's Toronto Centre of Excellence event during the tournament including many other minor hockey players between the ages of five and 18 from Waterloo and surrounding areas."

"We are proud to bring both of these first-rate events to the Waterloo area and in working with the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association," said Murray Costello, president of Canadian Hockey. "Waterloo boasts a great volunteer base and an excellent development system that has produced some of Canada's best coaches, officials and players. We are anticipating an exciting and very competitive 1996 Air Canada Cup Central Regional Championship.

Since 1984, when the Air Canada Cup went to a six-team format, the Central Region has played host to the event three times - North Bay (1984), Gloucester (1987), and Kitchener (1993). The City of Cornwall welcomed the second annual Air Canada Cup in 1980.

On the national medal podium, the Central Region has claimed the Air Canada Cup once, when the host squad, North Bay Pinehill, defeated Saskatchewan's Notre Dame College in 1984. Three Central Region clubs have won silver: St. Michael's College in 1979, the Kitchener Greenshirts in 1981, and the Toronto Red Wings in 1986. Bronze medalists have included the South Ottawa Warriors in 1982, the Wexford Raiders in 1989, and the Sault Ste. Marie Legion in 1993.