Cape Breton's hockey team has been flying higher these days both on the ice, where they've been racking-up the wins, and in the stands, where more fans have been turning out since Christmas.

But new owner Irwin Simon has his eyes on junior hockey's biggest prize.

“With the commissioner being in town, I must have asked him 25 times already that, within two to three years, I want the Memorial Cup and I would absolutely bid on the Memorial Cup,” Simon said.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League commissioner Gilles Courteau is in Sydney as part of the league's 50th anniversary tour.

He says the eagles' new ownership group, led by the multi-millionaire Simon, helps strengthen the Maritimes' footprint in the Quebec league and puts Cape Breton into a category with other maritime teams who have deep-pocketed owners, who have hosted -- and won -- Memorial Cups.

“A guy like Irwin Simon joining a group of people like Bobby Smith, Scott McCain, Robert Irving and a couple of good owners in Bathurst and Charlottetown, it's gonna be good,” Courteau said. “It's going to be great for the city, great for the team.”

This year, the Halifax Mooseheads are hosting the Memorial Cup for the second time in their history and the Moncton Wildcats also hosted once in 2006.

But Simon says Cape Breton and its Screaming Eagles should be the next Maritime team to host the tournament.

“I would like the Memorial Cup to be here at least three years from today,” Simon said.

Of course, it can't happen any sooner.

The Quebec league won't host the tournament again until 2022 and there's stiff competition from the Saint John Sea Dogs - who just missed on hosting in 2012 and Moncton with its new Avenir Centre.

“I want Cape Breton to be recognized as a team that's … 'I want to come there and play,’” Simon said. “We’ve got a great coaching staff, we've got great facilities, we've got great fans, and we're going to be a winner.”

This is the 25th season major junior hockey has been in the Maritimes, but only the third time it's hosted the Memorial Cup.

As for winning it without hosting, Courteau says the Bathurst Titan's national title last year proves that smaller markets, like Cape Breton, can pull it off.

“It's not a situation of big and small markets anymore,” Courteau said.“It's a situation of where and how you build your hockey team and we saw it with Bathurst last year.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.