The Great One now has his name on the world’s most significant summer hockey tournament as Hockey Canada has announced the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The tournament, renamed for Wayne Gretzky on Tuesday from the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, features the best under-18 players in the world.
It’ll be played Aug. 6-11 in Edmonton and Red Deer.
“Wayne agreed to put his name to this for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, because of his respect for Ivan Hlinka,” said Bob Nicholson, CEO and vice-chair of the Oilers Entertainment Group. “The other real key thing is he saw this as best-on-best.”
Hlinka, one of the prominent figures in the history of Czech hockey, was killed in a car crash in 2004 at the age of 54.
The eight-team tournament will feature 10 games at Rogers Place, two games at the Edmonton’s Downtown Community Arena and six games at Servus Arena in Red Deer.
“You’re bringing in world class players. They’re coming here in their draft years,” said Red Deer Rebels owner/president Brent Sutter. “It’s the first major, big tournament that these young players get exposed to.”
Ten and seven-game ticket packages for Rogers Place will go on sale to the public this spring. However, fans wanting front-of-the-line for public packages can reserve a spot immediately online. There is a $50 deposit per seat.
Canada will play all of its games at Rogers Place on Aug. 6 (Switzerland), Aug. 7 (Slovakia) and Aug. 9 (Sweden). The semi-finals are Aug. 10 with the gold medal game on Aug. 11.
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