Darrell Davis: Paying the price as Memorial Cup hosts

The Regina Pats are suffering from the horrible, painful, ridiculous after-effects of being last year’s Memorial Cup hosts.

Just like the Saskatoon Blades after serving as hosts of the 2013 Memorial Cup, the Pats are rebuilding their roster.

It’s pitiful how Memorial Cup hosts have to empty their cupboards of draft picks to bolster their roster, just for the chance to be competitive and perhaps even win a week-long tournament that determines the champions of Canadian-based junior hockey leagues. The Pats fell short last year as the Memorial Cup hosts.

It’s bad enough that teenagers can be shipped across North America, to continue pursuing their dreams, at the whim of a junior hockey franchise. Unfortunately, it’s inevitable that a host squad has to rebuild its supply of prospects. That means long-time Pats like Nick Henry and Jake Leschyshyn get dispatched for draft choices, leaving their former team without big-name players while it tries . . . and tries . . . and tries . . . to get back to being a decent hockey team again.