Four teams have one thing on the mind as the 100th Memorial Cup prepares to open up in Regina on Friday.

The coaches of the Regina Pats, Swift Current Broncos, Hamilton Bulldogs and Acadie-Bathurst Titan met with the media on Wednesday night in the Queen City to give some insight into their teams heading into the major junior national championship tournament.

Pats Well Prepared

The host Pats will no doubt be well rested heading into the tournament opening game on Friday.

Regina lost out to Swift Current in the first round of the WHL Playoffs and will have waited 46 days for their next game action.

Pats head coach John Paddock said the team has followed its plan to make sure its ready to go for their first game against the OHL Champion Hamilton Bulldogs.

"The players had nine days off and then we went into a three-week timeframe of really hard skating and battling, it was done in 4-5 day blocks and then a day-off, we had a little bit of internal competition between the split squads and then we started to get more into our systems," said Paddock.

The Pats used some alumni to play some scrimmages over the past week to get into game shape.

"I don't think there's a right or wrong way," added Paddock. "We did talk to Rocky Thompson (who coached the Windsor Spitfires to the title last year as hosts after a long layoff) and (Pats assistant coach) Dave Struch was involved in (a Memorial Cup as host), so I don't think what we did is a lot different from what anybody else would have done."

The teams that will be playing in the Memorial Cup weren't finalized until this past weekend, but Paddock said they have been following along through all three league playoffs.

"You can try to take some things, but it's about how your team plays, we're going to play a certain way," he said. "The only coach that I really know how they play is Manny (Viveros)'s team and he knows how we play, past that we’re going to play how we usually play."

Bulldogs Excited for Challenge

Coming off an upset of the top ranked Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL Final, the Hamilton Bulldogs are riding high as they enter the Memorial Cup.

The Bulldogs draw the hosts in their opening game and head coach John Gruden said they're looking forward to that challenge.

"Now that we have to reset and get ready and its a totally different format, we don't have time to get our legs underneath us, but all-in-all, our group is really resilient and regardless of the bounces, we're six defencemen deep and 3-4 lines and we're just going to keep going and keep grinding," said Gruden.

The Bulldogs lost just five games on their way through the OHL Playoffs, beating the Greyhounds in six games in the final.

Gruden said they're a hardworking team and they're not going to get away from that in this tournament.

"The players are very excited, their demeanour looked the same getting on the plane, I really do believe this team is here for a reason and that's to be what we've been doing all year and being consistent," said Gruden.

Hamilton and Regina face-off at 8 p.m. Friday night at the Brandt Centre to open the ten days of hockey.

Two Smallest Markets on Big Stage

The two smallest markets in the Canadian Hockey League have overcame the odds to make it into the Memorial Cup.

The Swift Current Broncos and Acadie-Bathurst Titan both reside in cities of under 20,000 people and after capturing their respective league titles, they will now play in the national championship tournament.

Broncos head coach Manny Viveros said the Swift Current community has been behind them throughout their entire run.

"Our community was absolutely ecstatic, it's something that I've never experienced in my hockey career and for such a small community, the noise in that building that we had during the playoffs continued to get louder and louder, and we're going to have quite a bit of our city coming for this whole tournament, it's going to be a lot of fun," said Viveros.

Bathurst, New Brunswick is the smallest community that is home to a CHL team. The Titan gave that city a season to remember as they made it back to the final for the first time in 16 years and won their fifth President’s Cup title, their first since 1999.

"We're really happy to be here, it's a great honour to be here," said Mario Pouliot. "For us, last Sunday was a special moment to have the chance to win the Cup at home in front of our fans. We are grateful to have live that moment at home.

"Being here is not about the size of market that you're playing in. It's a great important to show we are able to play really good hockey even though we're a small market."

The Broncos also captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup on home ice this past Sunday, beating the Everett Silvertips in six games. Swift Current had to play a WHL-record 26 games on their road to the title.

Viveros said they’re battle tested as they head into the next ten days.

"We do have an advantage of just travelling down the road, our kids are excited, all three of our teams have gone through long playoffs, but you don't get here without the ability to reset real quick and our kids have done a real good job of when they need to rest, they rest and if we don't have a good game, we've been able to reset and getting going the next game," he said.

The Titan and Broncos will meet to open the tournament on Saturday. Both coaches said that their focus is staying on their teams and getting them ready.

"At the end of the day, you have to play your own game and we know that we're going to face a really good team, they have depth everywhere and we'll have to be well prepared," said Pouliot.

They square off at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Brandt Centre.