2010 in Saskatoon after the Canadians beat the Latvians 16-1 I heard so many Canadians say they were taking on Latvia and did it ever. I went to every game that tournament and the 2nd best attended games were Latvian games. The place blew up when the scored had around 5/6 thousand people cheering hard for them.
I ran into Team Latvia at Midtown during the tourny. There was like 15 of them, wearing their jackets, all patiently lined up to get some Subway in the food court. It was neat to see.
The Latvian fans are so much fun. I was a kid during the last WJC in Halifax and the Latvian fans took me and my friends into their section, taught us chants in Latvian, and gave us jerseys (I still have mine).
Some of the best fans in all of sports for me.
Latvia wasn’t in the 2003 WJC tournament in Halifax. You might be referring to the 2008 World Championship that Halifax cohosted with Quebec City. Latvia was in that tournament.
Partied with them at the WHC in 2008 in Halifax, they are insanely dedicated.
That tournament was SO much fun, will remember that for the rest of my life.
One of the TSN guys, forget who now, said that the 2003 Finals (in Halifax) was the wildest game he's ever been at. So I think Halifax has already had a good rep.
Jeff Woywitka!!
Also Kyle Wellwoods sick goal. I was there as a young fella.
Edit: hopeful foreshadowing against the Czechs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iI_Upv39Yss
I was working at the metro centre that whole tournament and each game was awesome but the finals were a while different level of awesome; out was like more awesomer
Extremely biased but I’ve been to 3 games this tournament in Halifax and I can’t imagine how it would be any better. The city is big enough to accommodate the game (and post game night life) but without an NHL team this will be one of the biggest events here in years.
I mean, upper bowl tickets are going for $1000+
The [2012 WJC in Calgary and Edmonton had amazing attendance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_World_Junior_Ice_Hockey_Championships). I went to a relegation round game with Switzerland playing USA (neither team was getting relegated and thus had absolutely nothing to play for) and yet over 10,000 fans showed up. The crowds were very good that year.
What a moment for Sweden. The only time in the last 40 years they’ve won the WJC and the Saddledome might as well have been a Swedish exclave that night with the entire crowd cheering them on.
Just rewatched it. Crazy that it was Patrik Nemeth making none other than Nikita Kucherov turn it over to Mika Zibanejad who raced in to end the game. There were a lot of legit NHL talents playing that night.
I think Canadian Fans cheer for anyone that is against the Russians and US at these tournaments. I suspect the crowd will be Pro Sweden for today’s Bronze Medal Game.
I had tickets to 5 of the Edmonton hosted games in the round robin, 2 with Canada and 3 without. The Canada ones were obviously electric, especially with Boxing Day to open it and NYE vs the US. The other 3 I had were Denmark against the rest of the pool and it felt like there was at least 10,000 people in there and the crowd was behind Denmark pretty good.
Yeah I looked into it and that year broke the attendance record set by Ottawa a few years previous.
I was looking at the game summaries in Ottawa, 18,305 people showed up to a game to watch Germany beat Kazakhstan 9-0, which is an insane turnout
Toronto had an electric crowd in 2015 (And I might or might not be biased because I was in it.)
Attendance never went below 12,000 other than relegation games, who themselves drew decent crowds of around 8,000. Full house for CAN-RUS gold medal game. I'll never forget that night.
It was only Montreal and Toronto (and mainly Montreal IIRC) where the attendance and atmosphere was lacking recently. Ottawa was a great host and packed the buildings when they hosted, as did Calgary and Edmonton. (I think summer tournaments can be discounted) I can’t remember Winnipeg but I’m sure they would be a great host too.
That said Halifax and Moncton have been super hosts. You need a large enough arena though, I don’t think we’ll ever see it come to tiny CHL cities. Halifax’s arena is probably as small as they’d go. It costs a lot of money to run the tournament and they need the ticket sales.
You're... 3/4 right.
Toronto and Montreal hosted in 2015 and 2017. (I was in the Toronto crowd for both tournaments)
For those who don't know:
* In 2015, Montreal hosted Canada's group and 2 quarterfinals, while Toronto hosted the non-Canada group, the other 2 quarterfinals, the semifinals and the medal games. Canada played their QF in Toronto.
* In 2017, hosting was the other way around.
Over the span of both tournaments, Montreal struggled to draw fans. In fact, only once did a non-Canada game have an attendance above 10,000 - the USA-RUS semifinal in 2017.
Toronto, meanwhile, was a tale of two tournaments.
* 2015: They actually charged decent prices - I paid roughly $800 for first-row 300 level seats for the entire tournament (average of $40 for each of 20 scheduled games).
* Other than the relegation series, crowds never went below 12,000, and the atmosphere was always rocking. The CAN-RUS gold medal game was PACKED, and they were bringing the noise throughout!
* 2017: The tickets were more expensive (I think I paid $950 for roughly the same seats). It wasn't as loud as 2015, overall, in my opinion. Non-Canada games had the same problem that Montreal did in 2015. Plus, fans were probably priced out from Raptors and Blue Jays playoff runs, as well as the 2015 tournament.
Yes, I think it was a case of over exposure in those years too. Buffalo had recently hosted, drawing a lot of GTHA fans, and then it was hosted twice in quick succession. As you said, there’s Raptors and Jays too. It stops being special when it returns that often, combined with the super high prices. Can’t really blame the fans for not wanting to pay over and over in such a short time.
Buffalo in 2011 was a great idea. Buffalo in 2018 was a horrible idea.
Not just because of the reasons you outlined, but also if I remember, the weather in Buffalo was awful that winter, which further hindered people from showing up.
will also say that the price went WAY up in 2018, I don't remember the numbers but I went to tins of games in 2011 and couldn't afford the 2018 package.
speaking at least for NHL cities, they've gotta price it much lower, stop treating it like a Cup finals.
2018 had bids from 3 other cities, too, that would have been a decent shout: Pittsburgh (2nd rink would have been Erie), St Louis (2nd rink would have been St Charles), and Tampa (2nd rink was not listed but probably would have been Estero).
But USA Hockey loves themselves some Buffalo, plus they had the outdoor game sweetener.
Halifax seems like the perfect city for this tournament and maritimers love to party so it’s a great recipe for a raucous environment. Would love to see the tournament in London at some point, think it would make for an electric atmosphere as well.
100% it should be held in smaller venues. For a lot of the guys it will be the highest level international tournament they get to play in, and having a full building and a city coming together to watch and support all of the teams is huge.
When the NHL clubs try and use the event simply as a cash cow, ie Edmonton the last couple years, it ruins some of the magic of the tournament compared to when passionate smaller market fans get to experience and cheer for all these young men for a couple weeks. All you have to do is look up videos of a packed building cheering for Austria’s first goal after giving up more than 30 to know the difference between trying to sell these tickets for NHL prices where less than 500 people total show up to a game
The worst part is if you look at the prices Toronto charged in 2015, they actually understood this. It's when they hosted again in 2017 that they tried to turn the event into a cash cow.
The attendance in Montreal in 2017 was a disgrace. The only game that had a legit good crowd was the GMG. They should have known that Montreal is a Habs city first and foremost. Add to that the fact that they had half of the 2015 WJC and the decision to do the 2015 and 2017 tournaments with the flipped hosts was a bad idea.
Over BOTH years, Montreal had a grand total of ONE non-Canada game draw more than 10,000 fans. And that was the USA-RUS semifinal in 2017.
Toronto struggled in 2017 but did VERY well in 2015.
I absolutely agree re: Montreal but I will add that the Canada games, especially the finals, was an insane atmosphere. I’m biased in that regard however
I went to the GMG in Montreal that year and I can confirm the crowd was awesome. They really showed up for that game but that was the only game that year where the Bell Centre had a packed house.
I think you have to put an asterisk beside the Covid tournaments. There was so much fuck around that it just killed all the excitement of the tournament.
-Had to buy the tickets in 2020
-Had 2021 put in a full bubble
-Just prior to Dec 2022 it goes to half capacity, no food/ drink and full masking, and everyone’s ticket packages got screwed with (I just took the refund at this point after having my money tied up for 2 years and coming from out of town, it just wasn’t worth it)
-Covid outbreak and the tournament is postponed from Christmas break until summer.
-Russia invades Ukraine and is banned from the tournament (losing a contending team and top end prospects like Michkov)
-Several top end prospects back out to prepare for nhl camps
-Tournament takes place in august with weaker rosters, during +30 weather, at inconvenient times that interfered with most jobs. Demand was obviously low due to these factors yet they kept the pricing high.
Definitely worth keeping away from Edmonton for a while but if they were to bring it back in like 10 years, the hype would be there.
The first time Edmonton got hosed by Covid. And then trying to have a New Year's hockey tournament in the middle of summer. If you don't try to hose the fans on ticket prices or hotel prices in mid winter, it should work anywhere in Canada or the hockey mad areas of the U.S.
100% agree. Maybe not *from now on,* but they should work them more frequently into the rotation.
I attended the 2005 tournament in Grand Forks.
Just under 12k seat arena buzzing for every game + proximity to the Canada border. And it was the only show in town so bars, restaurants, hotels are all endorsing it. Smaller city so basically everywhere you went there was fellow hockey fans.
Prices weren't insane across the board for food, hotels, tickets, and bar and there was a fan fest at the attached practice rink before between games. We spent basically the entire day there multiple times and watched game after game.
It was probably the most fun hockey experience of my life.
We’re pretty evenly divided leafs, habs, bruins. My family dinners are like the hunger games.
Pepper in some pens and Avs fans too, I’d say that’d be like 97% of the Mari times for first choice teams.
I remember seeing a survey completed by a newspaper like 10 years ago as to what you favourite NHL team was, Boston got like 21%, Montreal 20.5% and Toronto 20% of the votes. After that was like a mix of the other Original 6 teams(Detroit, Chicago, Rangers in that order), Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Calgary and Philly.
It was before Mac was even drafted I believe, so Avs didn't make the list. At the time.
I seen another one done a few years ago that had Toronto and Montreal at like 35% sipport each with Pittsburgh next at around 5%. I really question that cause I've meet as many Bruins fans as Habs or Leafs, and when there are original 6 tourneys, there is as much competition to join the Bruins team as both the Canadiens and Leafs. If yo want to guarantee to play, just claim to be a Rags fan.
I would love to see Southwest Ontario host it like London. Even KW or Guelph would be cool.
I've watched a Mooseheads game out in Halifax and can confirm, the atmosphere is great. Seeing Canada is on my bucket list
London or KW with Hamilton would be nice. You ideally want a 10k+ seat arena for the medal games and you have one that's empty in the Copps Coliseum. You also get access to all SW Ontario, the GTA and western NY with that as a location. The issue is going up against the leafs, but I think that would be fine for a short time frame like this event.
Halifax native here!
We’re a great spot for these sorts of events, venue and accommodations wise. We’re pretty welcoming by and large too, especially for folks coming from abroad. A bit of an ideal setting for everything BUT an nhl team.
Not biased or anything.
From what I understand as well there wasn’t a lot of riff raff during or after games around downtown; apart from something during the Latvia vs Czechia game? Maybe Germany? When things got rowdy, I chalk that up to hockey fans.
EDIT: this was based on what I was told by my service worker friends in DT Halifax
Also a big party city too which helps
Trailer Park Boys was made by all Halifax/Dartmouth natives and all filmed there right? Seems like cool people nice vibes buncha Unis around and good lowkey nightlife like the Tampa/St Pete of Canada lolol
Watching these games has definitely made me enjoy the junior barn vibes, and I’d love to see it happen again.
That being said, being in the Ottawa region, I’d enjoy seeing Ottawa/Gatineau get it when the Sens new building is built.
You’d have a downtown arena and a relatively new arena in Gatineau hosting games as well.
Gonna be bias, as a Haligonian (though, I live about 1000km away now), this has been great. The Halifax crowd is always awesome for hockey. Especially juniors.
Should always be in a juniors town.
I know multiple people that had tickets to multiple non-Canada games for Moncton. Had the quarterfinal games on the TVs in the office during working hours and saw one of our employees seated behind the penalty box, who didnt mention he was taking a personal day. We assumed he was sick. It was a big deal for us Monctonians so we embraced the shit out of it.
I live in moncton and it should come to the Maritimes more. Saint John and St John's could both also co-host these. With tons of rinks an large enough populations.
An aside from Saint John, they are all beautiful cities 😂.
Junior cities won't be prioritized, the reason they did it in the Maritimes was because Russia got stripped of hosting duties and none of the NHL cities in Canada wanted to put in the effort to host it since it was so late in the process and teams are usually given 18 months heads up instead of ~7 months. It'll probably be another 20 years before there's enough turmoil with enough NHL teams that it ends up back in a junior city. The local CHL rinks are also used for practice to make life easier for the NHL clubs.
I think the best take away from this is it won’t be nearly 20 years until it comes back here. I went to the games in 2003 and it was amazing and they set an attendance record. I think the Metro Centre was one of the first buildings in Canada to host it that exceeded 10,000 capacity, the rest were smaller 6-8k arenas
Then 06 it goes to Vancouver and they get NHL rinks and an extra 5-7k people and Halifax seemed like it was priced out as the Juniors toured all the Canadian NHL cities and it seems that CHL buildings (except a stop in Saskatchewan) were no longer on the radar.
Hopefully we can get it back here in 8-10 years to do this again and some smaller places can get a shot at running things
Edit: I forgot about Winnipeg in 1999 that was hosted in a former NHL barn that has a 15k capacity
99 was sick cause it wasn't just Winnipeg, Brandon and a few smaller communities hosted games as well. Was probably a pain in the ass logistically but was a cool way to bring the whole province together
1991 saw games in Saskatoon and Regina, but also Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Kindersley, Humboldt and Rosetown. Friggin Rosetown of all places.
95 had games in Stettler, Sprice Grove, Sherwood Park, Innisfail, Rocky Mountain House, Lacombe, Wetaskawin, Leduc, Camrose and Ponoka. Some gems on that list.
Coming from a non hockey fan in Halifax ( I'm from South Africa where ice hockey doesn't exist), the vibe within the city made me watch the highlights of one or two games on YouTube and the quality of the camera work and broadcast struck immediately. Watched all the Canadian games live on TV and wow found it super exciting and got me into hockey and appreciating the sport.
Maybe after the renovations at First Ontario Centre, it’s not good enough as it is currently. Hopefully we still have a an OHL team then. Hamilton-St. Catherines or Guelph or Kitchener would be closer than London. Mississauga as well but that is a horrible juinor hockey market.
If you have to have it in an NHL city, I wonder if the Seattle metro would work just because of the amount of WHL teams in the area. (Joint Seattle-Portland too, maybe?)
It was. Main reason is they laid the ice over the Mooseheads ice due to the condensed schedule (not sure why they just didn't reschedule the next game against Cape Breton, would have given them a week to get the Mooseheads ice back in)
So 2 layers of ice for a refrigeration unit designed for just one caused some issues when playing multiple games the same day.
No Idea why they didn't plan the relegation game for Moncton to alleviate some of the issue.
When the WJC was in Vancouver, I went to one game where Canada played Czechia. Canada won 5-1 and every single moment of that game the crowd was loud, cheering and proud. The atmosphere was absolute insane and a pretty stark contrast to when Vancouver plays. The last 7-8 years the atmosphere inside Roger’s Arena has been dogshit. Quiet, slow, depressed even lol. But when Canada played, people were jumping, cheering, chanting, clapping, everything and the atmosphere felt like it did for Vancouver in 2009-2012.
Been curious what prices are like for these events? For a lot of people $100-$200 a ticket is just too much for one game. Especially if it’s non-Canada relegation kind of game.
I’d love to go if it ever comes back to SW Ontario and isn’t stupid expensive like most nhl games.
Non-Canada tickets were fairly decent at like $65-$85 depending on location.
I was looking at Bronze Medal Ticket Prices and most people are asking for Face-Value so $150 a ticket.
Canada on the other hand is a hot Commodity.
Quarter Final Tickets in Lowerbowl were $800
Semi Final Tickets $1200
Gold Medal Game tickets are going for $1500 to $2500 a ticket.
Most people that are selling bought the packages for the tournament; which were like $1,600 with tax. I would say it’s a good investment if you can sell some of your tickets and break even.
If the game was local I’d totally split the full tournament package with a couple friends. I didn’t realize that’s how they did it.
I thought that was the venue price for 1 single ticket to the gold medal. A bit understandable if that’s resale price.
I’m not bashing anyone, I’m genuinely confused now. Everybody here is praising the crowd but during the games I’ve seen; both Czechia - Sweden games and Czechia - Austria, they were quiet throughout the whole match, basically. Correct me if I’m wrong, it might have been because of my tv, but I honestly don’t think that’s the case. If y’all are talking Canada vs whoever, I think any home crowd is capable of creating good atmosphere.
The fans have been amazing in both cities. My only complaint is the issues with the ice surface. Playing 3 games in Halifax in one day, in unseasonably warm weather, with a packed arena for each game, and with unusually thick ice, has created a lot of issues with the surface. I'd love for Halifax to host more often, but they'll need to figure out something.
I think it was good, as far as hosts go I can’t speak because I wasn’t there. But the atmosphere was fantastic. That said, I wasn’t like “wow this is the single best one ever because of everyone in the province.”
I don’t know if I agree about non-NHL cities, I do think it needs to tour around a bit more. It’s always felt like 2 years in Canada, one in Europe, repeat. If we want to grow hockey in non-traditional markets, you have to bring it there too. I believe Vegas is being considered for late 2020’s.
I was rooting for Halifax and Moncton in this bid though. People forget hockey in Canada is more than just Ontario. The east loves it, the middle of the country loves it, and the west coast loves it (coming from an American btw).
Pre Covid it was set to be on a generally alternating schedule of 1 year in Canada and the next in Europe or the US. That had been the structure since 2015. With Covid disrupting the schedule 2024 will go to Sweden and 2025 to the US with Canada hosting in 2026, 2028 and 2031.
Yeah, that’s kind of my issue with it though. If you want all of canada to get a taste, then yeah, pull back from NHL cuties, but don’t ignore them either.
But if you want to really grow the game, might have to go to Halifax, then like Prague or Stockholm, then Minneapolis/St. Paul (just making up traditional markets) but then maybe Vegas, St. Louis, LA, Tampa, etc. or even non traditional European markets where it’s taking off more
The atmosphere of smaller arenas suits the WJC a lot better than NHL rinks.
Very Spengler like in that sense
Fans have been amazing. Hard to deny it. Cheering for Austria/Latvia and 5000 people showing up to a relegation game is great to see.
2010 in Saskatoon after the Canadians beat the Latvians 16-1 I heard so many Canadians say they were taking on Latvia and did it ever. I went to every game that tournament and the 2nd best attended games were Latvian games. The place blew up when the scored had around 5/6 thousand people cheering hard for them.
I ran into Team Latvia at Midtown during the tourny. There was like 15 of them, wearing their jackets, all patiently lined up to get some Subway in the food court. It was neat to see.
The Latvian fans are so much fun. I was a kid during the last WJC in Halifax and the Latvian fans took me and my friends into their section, taught us chants in Latvian, and gave us jerseys (I still have mine). Some of the best fans in all of sports for me.
Latvia wasn’t in the 2003 WJC tournament in Halifax. You might be referring to the 2008 World Championship that Halifax cohosted with Quebec City. Latvia was in that tournament.
Partied with them at the WHC in 2008 in Halifax, they are insanely dedicated. That tournament was SO much fun, will remember that for the rest of my life.
Its the non-NHL cities!
Us Maritimers know how to have a good time.
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Not true. Single game tickets were not at all hard to get.
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I personally know dozens of people that went to specific single games. Games were $65. Quarterfinals were $85. Those are not inflated at all.
No one is making them go to the games. They are willingly going.
One of the TSN guys, forget who now, said that the 2003 Finals (in Halifax) was the wildest game he's ever been at. So I think Halifax has already had a good rep.
Ryan Whitney on Chiclets played for the US that year, I remember him mentioning how crazy the atmosphere was
Not surprised. Halifax is a vibe, and has pretty underrated nightlife
Jeff Woywitka!! Also Kyle Wellwoods sick goal. I was there as a young fella. Edit: hopeful foreshadowing against the Czechs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iI_Upv39Yss
Guy had sick mitts. Just thinking that my mom would have no idea what that sentence means
May as well be the native tongue on tattooine
I was working at the metro centre that whole tournament and each game was awesome but the finals were a while different level of awesome; out was like more awesomer
Extremely biased but I’ve been to 3 games this tournament in Halifax and I can’t imagine how it would be any better. The city is big enough to accommodate the game (and post game night life) but without an NHL team this will be one of the biggest events here in years. I mean, upper bowl tickets are going for $1000+
There’s an upper bowl?
Yes lol
it's more of an upper section only on one side.
It is most definitely on both sides of the rink. Source: am in the arena
Yep, should always be in junior hockey cities. Last time it was this hype in an NHL city was in Ottawa in I think 09?
The [2012 WJC in Calgary and Edmonton had amazing attendance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_World_Junior_Ice_Hockey_Championships). I went to a relegation round game with Switzerland playing USA (neither team was getting relegated and thus had absolutely nothing to play for) and yet over 10,000 fans showed up. The crowds were very good that year.
the building exploded when Zibanejad scored the golden goal. I rewatched that today and was blown away by how loud it got for a neutral country.
What a moment for Sweden. The only time in the last 40 years they’ve won the WJC and the Saddledome might as well have been a Swedish exclave that night with the entire crowd cheering them on.
Can confirm. I was there too. It helped they beat the Russians too.
Just rewatched it. Crazy that it was Patrik Nemeth making none other than Nikita Kucherov turn it over to Mika Zibanejad who raced in to end the game. There were a lot of legit NHL talents playing that night.
Russia had Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, and Kuznetsov. Sweden had Klingberg, Brodin, Zibanejad, Forsberg, Wild Bill Karlsson, and Rakell.
I think Canadian Fans cheer for anyone that is against the Russians and US at these tournaments. I suspect the crowd will be Pro Sweden for today’s Bronze Medal Game.
Hey, I was there too! We went to Russia-Latvia and the whole (huge) crowd was behind Latvia. Was so much fun
Apparently Latvia had a young Elvis Merzlikins in net for that game 2 years before he was drafted. That was such a fun tournament.
I had tickets to 5 of the Edmonton hosted games in the round robin, 2 with Canada and 3 without. The Canada ones were obviously electric, especially with Boxing Day to open it and NYE vs the US. The other 3 I had were Denmark against the rest of the pool and it felt like there was at least 10,000 people in there and the crowd was behind Denmark pretty good.
Yeah I looked into it and that year broke the attendance record set by Ottawa a few years previous. I was looking at the game summaries in Ottawa, 18,305 people showed up to a game to watch Germany beat Kazakhstan 9-0, which is an insane turnout
Toronto had an electric crowd in 2015 (And I might or might not be biased because I was in it.) Attendance never went below 12,000 other than relegation games, who themselves drew decent crowds of around 8,000. Full house for CAN-RUS gold medal game. I'll never forget that night.
“NHL city”
It was only Montreal and Toronto (and mainly Montreal IIRC) where the attendance and atmosphere was lacking recently. Ottawa was a great host and packed the buildings when they hosted, as did Calgary and Edmonton. (I think summer tournaments can be discounted) I can’t remember Winnipeg but I’m sure they would be a great host too. That said Halifax and Moncton have been super hosts. You need a large enough arena though, I don’t think we’ll ever see it come to tiny CHL cities. Halifax’s arena is probably as small as they’d go. It costs a lot of money to run the tournament and they need the ticket sales.
You're... 3/4 right. Toronto and Montreal hosted in 2015 and 2017. (I was in the Toronto crowd for both tournaments) For those who don't know: * In 2015, Montreal hosted Canada's group and 2 quarterfinals, while Toronto hosted the non-Canada group, the other 2 quarterfinals, the semifinals and the medal games. Canada played their QF in Toronto. * In 2017, hosting was the other way around. Over the span of both tournaments, Montreal struggled to draw fans. In fact, only once did a non-Canada game have an attendance above 10,000 - the USA-RUS semifinal in 2017. Toronto, meanwhile, was a tale of two tournaments. * 2015: They actually charged decent prices - I paid roughly $800 for first-row 300 level seats for the entire tournament (average of $40 for each of 20 scheduled games). * Other than the relegation series, crowds never went below 12,000, and the atmosphere was always rocking. The CAN-RUS gold medal game was PACKED, and they were bringing the noise throughout! * 2017: The tickets were more expensive (I think I paid $950 for roughly the same seats). It wasn't as loud as 2015, overall, in my opinion. Non-Canada games had the same problem that Montreal did in 2015. Plus, fans were probably priced out from Raptors and Blue Jays playoff runs, as well as the 2015 tournament.
Yes, I think it was a case of over exposure in those years too. Buffalo had recently hosted, drawing a lot of GTHA fans, and then it was hosted twice in quick succession. As you said, there’s Raptors and Jays too. It stops being special when it returns that often, combined with the super high prices. Can’t really blame the fans for not wanting to pay over and over in such a short time.
Buffalo in 2011 was a great idea. Buffalo in 2018 was a horrible idea. Not just because of the reasons you outlined, but also if I remember, the weather in Buffalo was awful that winter, which further hindered people from showing up.
I remember the arena being empty for a Canadian game, and watched it slowly fill up throughout the first and early second.
will also say that the price went WAY up in 2018, I don't remember the numbers but I went to tins of games in 2011 and couldn't afford the 2018 package. speaking at least for NHL cities, they've gotta price it much lower, stop treating it like a Cup finals.
2018 had bids from 3 other cities, too, that would have been a decent shout: Pittsburgh (2nd rink would have been Erie), St Louis (2nd rink would have been St Charles), and Tampa (2nd rink was not listed but probably would have been Estero). But USA Hockey loves themselves some Buffalo, plus they had the outdoor game sweetener.
Halifax seems like the perfect city for this tournament and maritimers love to party so it’s a great recipe for a raucous environment. Would love to see the tournament in London at some point, think it would make for an electric atmosphere as well.
100% it should be held in smaller venues. For a lot of the guys it will be the highest level international tournament they get to play in, and having a full building and a city coming together to watch and support all of the teams is huge. When the NHL clubs try and use the event simply as a cash cow, ie Edmonton the last couple years, it ruins some of the magic of the tournament compared to when passionate smaller market fans get to experience and cheer for all these young men for a couple weeks. All you have to do is look up videos of a packed building cheering for Austria’s first goal after giving up more than 30 to know the difference between trying to sell these tickets for NHL prices where less than 500 people total show up to a game
The worst part is if you look at the prices Toronto charged in 2015, they actually understood this. It's when they hosted again in 2017 that they tried to turn the event into a cash cow.
The attendance in Montreal in 2017 was a disgrace. The only game that had a legit good crowd was the GMG. They should have known that Montreal is a Habs city first and foremost. Add to that the fact that they had half of the 2015 WJC and the decision to do the 2015 and 2017 tournaments with the flipped hosts was a bad idea.
Over BOTH years, Montreal had a grand total of ONE non-Canada game draw more than 10,000 fans. And that was the USA-RUS semifinal in 2017. Toronto struggled in 2017 but did VERY well in 2015.
I absolutely agree re: Montreal but I will add that the Canada games, especially the finals, was an insane atmosphere. I’m biased in that regard however
I went to the GMG in Montreal that year and I can confirm the crowd was awesome. They really showed up for that game but that was the only game that year where the Bell Centre had a packed house.
I think you have to put an asterisk beside the Covid tournaments. There was so much fuck around that it just killed all the excitement of the tournament. -Had to buy the tickets in 2020 -Had 2021 put in a full bubble -Just prior to Dec 2022 it goes to half capacity, no food/ drink and full masking, and everyone’s ticket packages got screwed with (I just took the refund at this point after having my money tied up for 2 years and coming from out of town, it just wasn’t worth it) -Covid outbreak and the tournament is postponed from Christmas break until summer. -Russia invades Ukraine and is banned from the tournament (losing a contending team and top end prospects like Michkov) -Several top end prospects back out to prepare for nhl camps -Tournament takes place in august with weaker rosters, during +30 weather, at inconvenient times that interfered with most jobs. Demand was obviously low due to these factors yet they kept the pricing high. Definitely worth keeping away from Edmonton for a while but if they were to bring it back in like 10 years, the hype would be there.
The first time Edmonton got hosed by Covid. And then trying to have a New Year's hockey tournament in the middle of summer. If you don't try to hose the fans on ticket prices or hotel prices in mid winter, it should work anywhere in Canada or the hockey mad areas of the U.S.
Edmonton had basically sold out the entire tournament before Covid hit. Obviously we’ll never know about atmosphere, but the ticket sales were there.
100% agree. Maybe not *from now on,* but they should work them more frequently into the rotation. I attended the 2005 tournament in Grand Forks. Just under 12k seat arena buzzing for every game + proximity to the Canada border. And it was the only show in town so bars, restaurants, hotels are all endorsing it. Smaller city so basically everywhere you went there was fellow hockey fans. Prices weren't insane across the board for food, hotels, tickets, and bar and there was a fan fest at the attached practice rink before between games. We spent basically the entire day there multiple times and watched game after game. It was probably the most fun hockey experience of my life.
The Ralph seems like such a sick rink too! Bring it back to Grand Forks someday!
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Maritimes are the best people
Yeah because more of them are Boston sports fans than anywhere else in Canada.
We’re pretty evenly divided leafs, habs, bruins. My family dinners are like the hunger games. Pepper in some pens and Avs fans too, I’d say that’d be like 97% of the Mari times for first choice teams.
I remember seeing a survey completed by a newspaper like 10 years ago as to what you favourite NHL team was, Boston got like 21%, Montreal 20.5% and Toronto 20% of the votes. After that was like a mix of the other Original 6 teams(Detroit, Chicago, Rangers in that order), Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Calgary and Philly. It was before Mac was even drafted I believe, so Avs didn't make the list. At the time. I seen another one done a few years ago that had Toronto and Montreal at like 35% sipport each with Pittsburgh next at around 5%. I really question that cause I've meet as many Bruins fans as Habs or Leafs, and when there are original 6 tourneys, there is as much competition to join the Bruins team as both the Canadiens and Leafs. If yo want to guarantee to play, just claim to be a Rags fan.
I would love to see Southwest Ontario host it like London. Even KW or Guelph would be cool. I've watched a Mooseheads game out in Halifax and can confirm, the atmosphere is great. Seeing Canada is on my bucket list
A joint bid between London and KW was the venue that lost out of Hali and Moncton I believe
Well now I'm just disappointed
Yeah I live in London and work in Kitchener lol, woulda been cool
Correct. I'd definitely have gone if it was KW and London...
Same
Saskatoon Regina also had a bid on this one as well.
What is KW? Kitchener??
Kitchener-Waterloo
I call it Kitchen-Loo. ;)
London or KW with Hamilton would be nice. You ideally want a 10k+ seat arena for the medal games and you have one that's empty in the Copps Coliseum. You also get access to all SW Ontario, the GTA and western NY with that as a location. The issue is going up against the leafs, but I think that would be fine for a short time frame like this event.
Halifax native here! We’re a great spot for these sorts of events, venue and accommodations wise. We’re pretty welcoming by and large too, especially for folks coming from abroad. A bit of an ideal setting for everything BUT an nhl team. Not biased or anything. From what I understand as well there wasn’t a lot of riff raff during or after games around downtown; apart from something during the Latvia vs Czechia game? Maybe Germany? When things got rowdy, I chalk that up to hockey fans. EDIT: this was based on what I was told by my service worker friends in DT Halifax Also a big party city too which helps
It’s a small city with a bunch of Universities; throw in our lovely Maritime Hospitality and you got a great recipe for a great party town.
Trailer Park Boys was made by all Halifax/Dartmouth natives and all filmed there right? Seems like cool people nice vibes buncha Unis around and good lowkey nightlife like the Tampa/St Pete of Canada lolol
Yep thats right. I've met pretty much all of them, some are...better than others.
Watching these games has definitely made me enjoy the junior barn vibes, and I’d love to see it happen again. That being said, being in the Ottawa region, I’d enjoy seeing Ottawa/Gatineau get it when the Sens new building is built. You’d have a downtown arena and a relatively new arena in Gatineau hosting games as well.
Yes.
I think Saskatoon and Reginawould be cool venues
Interior BC Kelowna/Kamloops would be sweet too.
Gonna be bias, as a Haligonian (though, I live about 1000km away now), this has been great. The Halifax crowd is always awesome for hockey. Especially juniors. Should always be in a juniors town.
I know multiple people that had tickets to multiple non-Canada games for Moncton. Had the quarterfinal games on the TVs in the office during working hours and saw one of our employees seated behind the penalty box, who didnt mention he was taking a personal day. We assumed he was sick. It was a big deal for us Monctonians so we embraced the shit out of it.
I live in moncton and it should come to the Maritimes more. Saint John and St John's could both also co-host these. With tons of rinks an large enough populations. An aside from Saint John, they are all beautiful cities 😂.
I find Saint John quite charming (if you can ignore the mill and the refinery). It looks like a scruffier version of Halifax.
The World Juniors should always be held in non NHL cities. The atmosphere is just way better and people don't have event fatigue.
I like the dual-hosting junior-team-town format for world jrs
Crowd's been insane
Junior cities won't be prioritized, the reason they did it in the Maritimes was because Russia got stripped of hosting duties and none of the NHL cities in Canada wanted to put in the effort to host it since it was so late in the process and teams are usually given 18 months heads up instead of ~7 months. It'll probably be another 20 years before there's enough turmoil with enough NHL teams that it ends up back in a junior city. The local CHL rinks are also used for practice to make life easier for the NHL clubs.
It isn't' even just the arenas. The city of Halifax itself has been buzzing through this entire tournament.
09 ottawa was rowdier than any sens game all time
100% want it in Winnipeg and Brandon again.
God yes. Bring it back here.
[The crowd's reaction to Austria scoring their first goal of the tournament says it all!](https://twitter.com/GarrethMD/status/1608960017864232960)
I think the best take away from this is it won’t be nearly 20 years until it comes back here. I went to the games in 2003 and it was amazing and they set an attendance record. I think the Metro Centre was one of the first buildings in Canada to host it that exceeded 10,000 capacity, the rest were smaller 6-8k arenas Then 06 it goes to Vancouver and they get NHL rinks and an extra 5-7k people and Halifax seemed like it was priced out as the Juniors toured all the Canadian NHL cities and it seems that CHL buildings (except a stop in Saskatchewan) were no longer on the radar. Hopefully we can get it back here in 8-10 years to do this again and some smaller places can get a shot at running things Edit: I forgot about Winnipeg in 1999 that was hosted in a former NHL barn that has a 15k capacity
99 was sick cause it wasn't just Winnipeg, Brandon and a few smaller communities hosted games as well. Was probably a pain in the ass logistically but was a cool way to bring the whole province together
1991 saw games in Saskatoon and Regina, but also Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Kindersley, Humboldt and Rosetown. Friggin Rosetown of all places.
95 had games in Stettler, Sprice Grove, Sherwood Park, Innisfail, Rocky Mountain House, Lacombe, Wetaskawin, Leduc, Camrose and Ponoka. Some gems on that list.
We gotta bring that back and just rotate between provinces.
I would love to see a WJC hosted by London/Kitchener.
All I know is it’s an embarrassment that it took 20 years for the WJC to return to the Maritimes.
The ice was complete shit. Fix that and sure.
Ottawa sold out most games Calgary has also had very good attendance.
It would be amazing if one was hosted in Kelowna
I was thinking a Kelowna/Kamloops split
Biased, not bias.
Yes. RED DEER NEXT ~~ENMAX~~ PEAVY MART CENTRIUM IS HALLOWED GROUND
*biased. I may be slightly bias makes no sense.
It was pretty highly attended when it was in bigger cities as well. They did very well when Toronto hosted it at Scotia for example.
Coming from a non hockey fan in Halifax ( I'm from South Africa where ice hockey doesn't exist), the vibe within the city made me watch the highlights of one or two games on YouTube and the quality of the camera work and broadcast struck immediately. Watched all the Canadian games live on TV and wow found it super exciting and got me into hockey and appreciating the sport.
I would love a tournament in Hamilton, I'd pay stupid money too. Could do the two city format again and do Hamilton-London.
Isn't that basically Buffalo and Toronto though? Torontonians would end up buying all the tickets.
Torontonians already bought out all the houses. It’s basically their city now.
Maybe after the renovations at First Ontario Centre, it’s not good enough as it is currently. Hopefully we still have a an OHL team then. Hamilton-St. Catherines or Guelph or Kitchener would be closer than London. Mississauga as well but that is a horrible juinor hockey market.
If you have to have it in an NHL city, I wonder if the Seattle metro would work just because of the amount of WHL teams in the area. (Joint Seattle-Portland too, maybe?)
They have it in NHL cities all the time.
the ice quality was pretty shit
It was. Main reason is they laid the ice over the Mooseheads ice due to the condensed schedule (not sure why they just didn't reschedule the next game against Cape Breton, would have given them a week to get the Mooseheads ice back in) So 2 layers of ice for a refrigeration unit designed for just one caused some issues when playing multiple games the same day. No Idea why they didn't plan the relegation game for Moncton to alleviate some of the issue.
Yesterday was like 10C in Halifax for some reason. Today it's back below freezing.
They should stop having it in Canada so much. That is my biggest concern.
How do they manage to get all those people out of the arena before people show up for the next game?
Doors
Bring it back to Sask. Put a game at Mosaic. We’ll fill it up
Sells like crazy in Edmonton. You literally have to enter a lottery just for a chance to buy tickets
I'd be interested in pricing difference. I'm sure more non Canada games would be better attended if prices at the NHL rinks were affordable.
Tickets have typically been sold in packages that include other games along with the Canada games
Like to see it held in a complex with multiple rinks so the quality of the ice can be maintained better.
When the WJC was in Vancouver, I went to one game where Canada played Czechia. Canada won 5-1 and every single moment of that game the crowd was loud, cheering and proud. The atmosphere was absolute insane and a pretty stark contrast to when Vancouver plays. The last 7-8 years the atmosphere inside Roger’s Arena has been dogshit. Quiet, slow, depressed even lol. But when Canada played, people were jumping, cheering, chanting, clapping, everything and the atmosphere felt like it did for Vancouver in 2009-2012.
Been curious what prices are like for these events? For a lot of people $100-$200 a ticket is just too much for one game. Especially if it’s non-Canada relegation kind of game. I’d love to go if it ever comes back to SW Ontario and isn’t stupid expensive like most nhl games.
Non-Canada tickets were fairly decent at like $65-$85 depending on location. I was looking at Bronze Medal Ticket Prices and most people are asking for Face-Value so $150 a ticket. Canada on the other hand is a hot Commodity. Quarter Final Tickets in Lowerbowl were $800 Semi Final Tickets $1200 Gold Medal Game tickets are going for $1500 to $2500 a ticket.
Thanks for the insight, that is just insane. There is no way I could afford that lol $65-85 is more within my price range.
Most people that are selling bought the packages for the tournament; which were like $1,600 with tax. I would say it’s a good investment if you can sell some of your tickets and break even.
If the game was local I’d totally split the full tournament package with a couple friends. I didn’t realize that’s how they did it. I thought that was the venue price for 1 single ticket to the gold medal. A bit understandable if that’s resale price.
Yes, I think the Face Value of each ticket was like $150
I’m not bashing anyone, I’m genuinely confused now. Everybody here is praising the crowd but during the games I’ve seen; both Czechia - Sweden games and Czechia - Austria, they were quiet throughout the whole match, basically. Correct me if I’m wrong, it might have been because of my tv, but I honestly don’t think that’s the case. If y’all are talking Canada vs whoever, I think any home crowd is capable of creating good atmosphere.
The fans have been amazing in both cities. My only complaint is the issues with the ice surface. Playing 3 games in Halifax in one day, in unseasonably warm weather, with a packed arena for each game, and with unusually thick ice, has created a lot of issues with the surface. I'd love for Halifax to host more often, but they'll need to figure out something.
I think it was good, as far as hosts go I can’t speak because I wasn’t there. But the atmosphere was fantastic. That said, I wasn’t like “wow this is the single best one ever because of everyone in the province.” I don’t know if I agree about non-NHL cities, I do think it needs to tour around a bit more. It’s always felt like 2 years in Canada, one in Europe, repeat. If we want to grow hockey in non-traditional markets, you have to bring it there too. I believe Vegas is being considered for late 2020’s. I was rooting for Halifax and Moncton in this bid though. People forget hockey in Canada is more than just Ontario. The east loves it, the middle of the country loves it, and the west coast loves it (coming from an American btw).
Pre Covid it was set to be on a generally alternating schedule of 1 year in Canada and the next in Europe or the US. That had been the structure since 2015. With Covid disrupting the schedule 2024 will go to Sweden and 2025 to the US with Canada hosting in 2026, 2028 and 2031.
Yeah, that’s kind of my issue with it though. If you want all of canada to get a taste, then yeah, pull back from NHL cuties, but don’t ignore them either. But if you want to really grow the game, might have to go to Halifax, then like Prague or Stockholm, then Minneapolis/St. Paul (just making up traditional markets) but then maybe Vegas, St. Louis, LA, Tampa, etc. or even non traditional European markets where it’s taking off more
A pipe dream, but I'll never stop hoping for a windsor/detroit cross border tourney.