Another sign that hockey is declining in Canada, the Hlinka-Gretzky cup did not sellout..

[nucks88]

Just keep the tournament in Czechia and Slovakia and keep Canada and USA out of the whole thing. Rather have a European only tournament, slapping gretzky’s name on it with Hlinka was already dumb.

Sounds good....

 

[Jumptheshark]

made a big deal in social media..

Terrible crowd size at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup final

Not marketed right.

 

[Jussi]

I don't think anybody really watches hockey anymore.

 

[Drake1588]

This tournament probably belongs in Europe each year. Rotate its host cities, sure, but there's not a lot of resonance here and I think it means more to municipalities there. This should be doubly so if the IIHF is going to stage the WJCs in North America so often (I'm less familiar with the hosting patterns of the Under 18s, though).

 

[NyQuil]

Just keep the tournament in Czechia and Slovakia and keep Canada and USA out of the whole thing. Rather have a European only tournament, slapping gretzky’s name on it with Hlinka was already dumb.

For sure.

It doesn't really have much traction over here in Canada, even after winning it 76% of the time.

 

[McPoyle]

I would have gone to some games but I was out of town on summer vacation

 

[McMoMoney29]

Yeah didn’t even know it was here until I heard the oilers goal siren in the highlights

 

[Section337]

Just keep the tournament in Czechia and Slovakia and keep Canada and USA out of the whole thing. Rather have a European only tournament, slapping gretzky’s name on it with Hlinka was already dumb.

Slapping Gretzky's name was trying to save tournament about 6 years ago. Edmonton seemed like a good 2nd city at the time, but we have had a lot of hockey here since then for people to spend money upon. Plus, unless you are near or in Rogers, not sure you would even know the tournament was happening.

Seems like one of those development tournaments that should move around to different (smaller) cities (Red Deer has been in the mix, twice) if it wants to survive, but not sure if this is an actually IIHF tournament or more private.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The Hnlinka-Gretzky tournament isn't designed to sell out and be a money maker for Hockey Canada. It's literally a development tournament designed to make scouting the top prospects easier, and to provide a WJC type tournament for the age bracket below them. This tournament not selling out isn't a sign of anything.