No fans

[DaGap]

Honestly I didn't even know the WJC was happening until I saw Bedards goal in the first game

People get like 3 weeks vacation generally in Canada (can be more after a a while but 3 is the baseline)

I can't imagine many people with to use 3-4 of their 15 days to go see wjc games in the final days of summer

Not to mention people may have already used their holidays for the previous tournament and this years tourney at xmas

 

[Ciao]

Above and beyond all the other reasons -- and there are many -- the main one is timing and weather.

The summer is short. People are on vacation and/or outdoors.

Sitting in a cold arena at this time of year is a non-starter.

Eight weeks earlier or four weeks later would have made a World of difference.

 

[Jay26]

Yikes. Are they ramping up the prices because there’s no sponsors?

No they're doing it because they assume Canadians are suckers who will pay whatever for any sort of hockey. They're wrong. We can love without it. Can't live without food on the table.

 

[joestevens29]

Above and beyond all the other reasons -- and there are many -- the main one is timing and weather.

The summer is short. People are on vacation and/or outdoors.

Sitting in a cold arena at this time of year is a non-starter.

Eight weeks earlier or four weeks later would have made a World of difference.

I agree about earlier, but later probably doesn't really do much. You'd end up with an even less talent pool.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I'll be watching regardless, but this "make-up" tournament was a bad idea in hindsight. The no-show local fans certainly agree.

 

[joestevens29]

I'll be watching regardless, but this "make-up" tournament was a bad idea in hindsight. The no-show local fans certainly agree.

I'm okay with the tourney being held. For a lot of the guys in this tourney this will be their biggest memory of their career. Even guys that go onto the NHL could potentially have one of their largest memories come from these tourneys. For that reason alone I'm glad that the players were able to get their chance to shine.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I'm okay with the tourney being held. For a lot of the guys in this tourney this will be their biggest memory of their career. Even guys that go onto the NHL could potentially have one of their largest memories come from these tourneys. For that reason alone I'm glad that the players were able to get their chance to shine.

Fair. The kids playing are thrilled the tournament is being held, and I'm happy for all of them, especially a guy like Bordeleau who finally gets to play.

The bigger picture for me though - the enormous list of missing talent, the empty rink, the fact that we'll have another tourney in a little over 4 months - and it's still a big "no" from me.

We can disagree, Joe. Your take is perfectly reasonable.

 

[joestevens29]

Fair. The kids playing are thrilled the tournament is being held, and I'm happy for all of them, especially a guy like Bordeleau who finally gets to play.

The bigger picture for me though - the enormous list of missing talent, the empty rink, the fact that we'll have another tourney in a little over 4 months - and it's still a big "no" from me.

We can disagree, Joe. Your take is perfectly reasonable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly paying attention the way I would. I also probably won't go see a single game even though it's in my hometown.

I just can see why they decided to do it.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Sitting in a cold arena at this time of year is a non-starter.
.

But what better time?

 

[CycloneSweep]

Lots to do in Edmonton in the summer for much more affordable prices and much more affordable food prices too

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

You can pay 260.50$ CDN a ticket to see a gold medal game of a World Jr tournament.

or you can pay 145$ US in a similar seat to see the Wild play the Oilers on December 1st in Minnesota.

 

[Not The One]

I wouldn’t give one penny to Hockey Canada knowing what they use the money for

If THEY are getting sued (and not the players who were actually involved) then where should the money come from? Ideally they would take a loan or something then turn around and sue the young multimillionaire rapists who are making more money than 99% of us, but apparently it doesn't work like...

 

[novisor]

Despite the ridiculous Covid restrictions the past couple years, I think Edmonton may be growing tired of the tournament as well. Hosting in 2021, 2022 foolishly cancelled version, and 2022 summer edition is a lot in a year and a half. We saw the same thing in Buffalo 2018 after having 2011 in Buffalo, and 2015 & 2017 in Toronto/Montreal. It doesn't seem as exciting when the tournament is always in the same place. Looking forward to it going out east.

 

[novisor]

It is also amazing to see how bad the host city/ Hockey Canada has blown their attempt at this tournment twice in a row now. Kudo's for hosting in 2021 with no vaccines/a bubble. However, after scrapping the 2022 tournament of perfectly healthy teenagers, one of which might have had the sniffles, and all were vaccinated is a complete joke. Now they get to redo it and the completely botch the pricing? Get this tournament out of Canada for a 5 year period. Let the Americans, Swedes, and Fins host for a while. Heck throw a tournament in Slovakia too.

 

[Big Bobby]

They need to go back to hosting these tournaments in smaller markets. How many f***ing times has Edmonton / Alberta hosted this thing recently? It feels like Edmonton is getting the tourney every other year, and they aren't doing very well hosting it. Last winter should've been strike three. You tried to host a tourney, you bungled it and had to cancel mid-way through, now you're done. Now they're putting on some half-assed thing in the summer and bungling that too. Move it back to a place like Saskatoon where the fans are hungry for hockey.

 

[Big Bobby]

It is also amazing to see how bad the host city/ Hockey Canada has blown their attempt at this tournment twice in a row now. Kudo's for hosting in 2021 with no vaccines/a bubble. However, after scrapping the 2022 tournament of perfectly healthy teenagers, one of which might have had the sniffles, and all were vaccinated is a complete joke. Now they get to redo it and the completely botch the pricing? Get this tournament out of Canada for a 5 year period. Let the Americans, Swedes, and Fins host for a while. Heck throw a tournament in Slovakia too.

Well said. They completely panicked during the Omicron surge last winter and dropped the ball. Everyone was vaccinated. It should have been fine, and it would have been fine if they just let it ride, but they got caught up in the media hype and hoopla and made a kneejerk decision that in hindsight was a mistake.

 

[MuckOG]

They need to go back to hosting these tournaments in smaller markets. How many f***ing times has Edmonton / Alberta hosted this thing recently? It feels like Edmonton is getting the tourney every other year, and they aren't doing very well hosting it. Last winter should've been strike three. You tried to host a tourney, you bungled it and had to cancel mid-way through, now you're done. Now they're putting on some half-assed thing in the summer and bungling that too. Move it back to a place like Saskatoon where the fans are hungry for hockey.

Not sure why the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) never get an opportunity to host the WJC. There plenty of fans of not just the NHL, but youth, high school and college hockey in the Land of 10,000 lakes. The infrastructure is also there with plenty of arenas, hotels and restaurants (and don't forget about the Mall of America)

We also have a large population of Finnish and Swedish immigrants in the State, many of whom I think would love to waive the flags of their respective countries at the games.

 

[joestevens29]

They need to go back to hosting these tournaments in smaller markets. How many f***ing times has Edmonton / Alberta hosted this thing recently? It feels like Edmonton is getting the tourney every other year, and they aren't doing very well hosting it. Last winter should've been strike three. You tried to host a tourney, you bungled it and had to cancel mid-way through, now you're done. Now they're putting on some half-assed thing in the summer and bungling that too. Move it back to a place like Saskatoon where the fans are hungry for hockey.

$$$$$

When done at the proper time without restrictions Edmonton/Alberta makes a shit ton of money for the IIHF.

 

[novisor]

Not sure why the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) never get an opportunity to host the WJC. There plenty of fans of not just the NHL, but youth, high school and college hockey in the Land of 10,000 lakes. The infrastructure is also there with plenty of arenas, hotels and restaurants (and don't forget about the Mall of America)

We also have a large population of Finnish and Swedish immigrants in the State, many of whom I think would love to waive the flags of their respective countries at the games.

Good point. The American's love hosting in Buffalo with the huge amount of those WJC fans concentrated in Southern Ontario. Probably the most logical place for it, other than in Detroit/Grand Rapids.

 

[wetcoast]

Maybe, maybe not. But the tournament would have already been completed at its normal time if Hockey Canada didn't screw it up.

I'm sure the tourney would have done better if it were held in the states due to their better Covid track record?

Sure it wasn't handled the greatest but hindsight and "money is no object for a bubble" mindsets just don't help.

 

[beowulf]

I think people have summed it up well, time of year, prices, current scandal surrounding hockey Canada, and Russia being kicked for this one due to the Ukraine invasion means not surprising the stands are somewhat empty.

 

[ORRFForever]

Not sure why the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) never get an opportunity to host the WJC.

2 words...

Ilhan Omar !!!!

 

[vippe]

Isnt there like a million and half living in the Edmonton metropolitan area?

No matter the fatigue, summer, outdoors activities, Hockey Canada scandal or whatever reasons people are throwing out there - they should be able to at least not have the arenas be completely dead.

It's a failure, no ways around it.

 

[joestevens29]

Isnt there like a million and half living in the Edmonton metropolitan area?

No matter the fatigue, summer, outdoors activities, Hockey Canada scandal or whatever reasons people are throwing out there - they should be able to at least not have the arenas be completely dead.

It's a failure, no ways around it.

It's quite obvious all the factors listed are major issues. Not like we didn't have people buying tickets at x-mas when it was supposed to be played. Not like the last time it was in Edmonton we had a problem selling tickets. Smallest crowd was 13k last time.

People aren't taking time off to go watch the afternoon game and a lot of people can't get off to make 4pm starts. Not at the prices they want. Might as well save your money and go to a NHL game or you could go to quite a few Oil Kings games for that price.

 

[ohcomeonref]

Isnt there like a million and half living in the Edmonton metropolitan area?

No matter the fatigue, summer, outdoors activities, Hockey Canada scandal or whatever reasons people are throwing out there - they should be able to at least not have the arenas be completely dead.

It's a failure, no ways around it.

Fatigue, summer, outdoor activities, scandals, record inflation couple with insane ticket prices... These are massive issues, pretending like they're just some excuse is dumb at best.