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World Juniors Popularity

Latvia calling. I would say that our team's scores at the WJC get decent attention on sports media, however, not to the extent that anyone but core hockey fans would get up at 2am to catch a game.

As a tiny nation, we are always hungry for sports success. So, yeah, if a Latvian team miraculously made the WJC final, it would be a mainstream story and many would tune in.
 
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In Sweden its huge, and have been it since around 2006. People here are depressed that we never win gold.

Listen to the swedish commentators here...how much passion they have, thats how much we love World Juniors:

 
Unfortunately the WJC is barely on the radar in the States. There's a reason every tournament we host is within reasonable travel distance from Canada.
 
it's moderately popular in Slovakia. All Slovak games are on live TV and their results get decent coverage in the news.

Not sure how many people actually watch the games. Casual fans don't watch. It doesn't help that most of the time it's overseas and the games are on during the night.
 
I watched it for the first time in 2013, I think the 2012 run gave the WJCs a major push here in Sweden, and I can’t recall ever having thought of the World Juniors being a big deal before then. Probably were, but my interest in the game had accelerated just recently.

I don’t know if it’s bigger than the senior World Championships. I think because it takes place in winter and around the holidays, more casuals may tune into it.

I tend to follow it if there’s Luleå talent on the roster, and if there are some other particularly interesting prospects participating, regardless of nationality.

I think the pressure on the players to perform can get a bit out of hand. They’re 16-19 year old kids still in development and I don’t necessarily know that the increased interest in the tournament is all that healthy… They should be allowed to play their game and mess up without feeling they’ve “failed their nations” and whatnot. It should just be a fun tournament showcasing tomorrow’s stars.
 
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It’s been said many times before, but Canada is a bit of an odd exception because the tournament was all TSN had as far as hockey coverage was concerned back in the early 90s and consequently they marketed the hell out of it around Christmas time.

Canada went on a 5 year gold medal streak at around the same time and the rest is history.

If it wasn’t for TSN, and the streak, I would be surprised if it was as big as it is today.

As it stands, it’s part of a Christmas tradition along the lines of British folks watching the Great Escape every year on Boxing Day.
 
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Remember watching World Juniors in the 90's, waking up in the middle of the night or early morning for the best games. There was a time when I watched the Team Finland games on a pay-TV -marketing screen divided in some 20 or so smaller windows...
 
Arguably more popular than the regular WHC in Sweden.
 
Yozhik v tumane said:
I watched it for the first time in 2013, I think the 2012 run gave the WJCs a major push here in Sweden, and I can’t recall ever having thought of the World Juniors being a big deal before then. Probably were, but my interest in the game had accelerated just recently.

I don’t know if it’s bigger than the senior World Championships. I think because it takes place in winter and around the holidays, more casuals may tune into it.

I tend to follow it if there’s Luleå talent on the roster, and if there are some other particularly interesting prospects participating, regardless of nationality.

I think the pressure on the players to perform can get a bit out of hand. They’re 16-19 year old kids still in development and I don’t necessarily know that the increased interest in the tournament is all that healthy… They should be allowed to play their game and mess up without feeling they’ve “failed their nations” and whatnot. It should just be a fun tournament showcasing tomorrow’s stars.
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SVT made a big push to popularize it in 2006 07 when Sweden hosted it. I remember the enourmous hype around the 2009 10 2010 11 teams aswell.

snipes said:
The World Juniors is the best hockey tournament. It delivers excitement and amazing hockey every single year.
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Undeniably great indeed.
 
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Its super big in Sweden. If i recall correctly we had some underdog success stories around 06-07 and had not really had that many new stars after Sedinx2 and Zetterberg.
that made for a hype when we finally got some good teams 08-10, so when we finally won in 12 it reached the status it has today which is huge.
 
I think when the world juniors was on Christmas day when there was nothing else on really helped.

Being at Christmas dinner with extended family and everyone around watching Canada, or still a fair amount around watching whatever other team was on.
 
NyQuil said:
It’s been said many times before, but Canada is a bit of an odd exception because the tournament was all TSN had as far as hockey coverage was concerned back in the early 90s and consequently they marketed the hell out of it around Christmas time.

Canada went on a 5 year gold medal streak at around the same time and the rest is history.

If it wasn’t for TSN, and the streak, I would be surprised if it was as big as it is today.

As it stands, it’s part of a Christmas tradition along the lines of British folks watching the Great Escape every year on Boxing Day.
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Ditto. I was 9 when Canada won in 2005, 8 when they lost the US in 2004. Ever since then it's been a Christmas tradition, and I watched as it grew into the beast it is today. No sporting event does it for me like the World Juniors. It's as much a part of Christmas as eggnog and snow.
 
I personally love it, but your average Joe from Slovakia is barely aware of the tournament's existence. It has higher recognition among sports fans and even something of a following among the hard-core hockey fans. But nowhere near the mainstream appeal of the WCH which is followed by the casuals as well and often it's the only sports event they watch all year.
 
It's gotten bit more popular in Finland after 2016, but as a whole, very minor tournament in terms of popularity.
 
In Switzerland only hard core hockey fans (like me) care. It is basically a non-factor. There would be a small article in the big newspapers but nothing prominent.
 
Yeah, there's decent echo chamber on HFBoards in regards to kids hockey. Your average Joe outside Canada is oblivious to WJC taking place unless it literally arrives at ones hometown once in a decade.
 
snipes said:
The World Juniors is the best hockey tournament. It delivers excitement and amazing hockey every single year.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm arguing semantics, but the WJC isn't amazing hockey per se. The quality sucks relative to the Worlds; BUT that's what makes it so entertaining and exciting. Mistakes everywhere, nonstop changes in momentum, passion only kids can bring, etc.

Great tournament.
 
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