The Western Canada Cup passed on the torch to Estevan's next major event with a $40,000 donation on Saturday.

The Saskatchewan Summer Games made another major annoucement this morning at the Estevan Farmer's Market. The Western Canada Cup committee was announced to be a platinum sponsor for the Summer Games. The $40,000 donation will help continue improving facilities for the Games. Those in attendance included Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig. He says that in a year with both the Western Canada Cup and Summer Games in Estevan, the support has been great.

"Our volunteers are fantastic, the WCC comittee did a tremendous job," Mayor Ludwig said after the announcement. "They're not only leaders within our community, but they got the right people out, got the right corporate sponsors to make this happen, and hats off to them."

The sponsorship of Estevan's next major event wraps up an extremely successful Western Canada Cup tournament. Along with being awarded the platinum status, the golf venue will be named after the Estevan Bruins. Mayor Ludwig says that this will be a great transition point for Estevan.

"I think this will hopefully give the community the opportunity to switch the focus to the summer games," Ludwig said. "As we've already spoke, we do need more volunteers."

Despite the two events being held in the Energy City in the same year, both have been able to work together. Summer Games board member Brian Senchuk says that the cooperation was helpful to both events.

"We knew that with them going in to the Western Canada Cup, we were kind of vying for the same charitable donation dollars, but we also knew they had a vision," "We wanted to respect that vision, and together we knew that we could function and both be successful, and indeed that's the case."

The donation allows for the Games Committee to take a look back at some legacy projects that were initially cut due to not being essential to the operation of the games. The money comes at a good time, arriving when the Games are just over a month away. With the Western Canada Cup now in the rear-view mirror, WCC board member Warren Waldegger looked back on the tournament.

"It's a real relief to get through a large event like that and make sure you're on the positive side of the ledger," Waldegger said. "We had great sponsorship from our community, it's just great that we can turn around and help out the Summer Games and the community."

The donation serves as a capstone for the first Western Canada Cup tournament to turn a profit. Along with the $40,000 going to the Summer Games, the Estevan Bruins and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League will also receive a similar amount. Waldegger extends a huge thank you to the sponsors and members of the community who helped make the tournament successful.

The $40,000 cheque, alongside the Rockin' The Games fundraiser at Affinity Place, has put the Summer Games Committee in a good position. Senchuk says that although they are in good shape, there is still plenty of work to be done.

"We have a lot of our expenses coming in," Senchuk said. "Are we out of the woods? No, by no means. But we're going to work hard to continue to be there, and at the end of the day we are going to be in the black."