Winnipeg is the Manitoba Moose, the American Hockey League primary affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets that are owned by the same group . In amateur hockey, the Winnipeg Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League play out of the Bell MTS Iceplex. On the international stage, Winnipeg has hosted national and world hockey championships on a number of occasions, most notably the 1999 World Junior Hockey Championship and 2007 Women's World Hockey Championship. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers play in the Canadian Football League. They are ten-time Grey Cup champions, their last championship in 1990. From 1953 to 2012, the Blue Bombers
Winnipeg of the Red River Valley, a flood plain with an extremely flat topography. It is on the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies in Western Canada and is known as the "Gateway to the West". Winnipeg is bordered by tallgrass prairie to the west and south and the aspen parkland to the northeast, although most of the native prairie grasses have been removed for agriculture and urbanization. It is relatively close to many large Canadian Shield lakes and parks, as well as Lake Winnipeg (the Earth's 11th largest freshwater lake). Winnipeg has North America's largest extant mature urban elm forest.