A local activation committee called “Team Moncton” tasked with creating local events surrounding the upcoming IIHF World Championship games was announced Monday in Moncton.
“Normally, you have two years to get this ready. We’ve virtually had three and a half months,” co-chair Bill Whalen said.
The 2023 World Juniors have been plagued by controversy since Russia, the original host country, began its invasion of Ukraine in February, forcing organizers to find a new host location.
Shortly after Halifax and Moncton were chosen to host the games in May, Hockey Canada, one of the games’ major organizers, became embroiled in a sexual assault scandal, putting the future of the tournament in question and delaying some of the planning.
“There have been some stops and starts (in the planning process) as we’ve waited for Hockey Canada to tell us how much involvement they’ll have or sponsorship money,” Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce CEO John Wishart said on Monday.
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“The actual work is really getting underway just now,” he said.
Team Moncton, along with a team of volunteers, is in charge of organizing several events that run parallel to the games, such as a New Year’s Eve celebration following the matches between the Finland and U.S. teams, and Sweden and Canada’s teams on Dec. 31, according to Whalen.
“Our focus is creating the plaza in front of the Avenir Centre as kind of the fun zone. So there will be activities there every day, the Ian Fowler skating oval will be active, we’ll have local musicians on stage all the time,” Whalen said.
Wishart said finding the staff to work in hotels and restaurants for the duration of the games will be challenging for local businesses.
“Normally restaurants, bars, hotels, they’re either shut down or on reduced hours between Christmas and New Year’s. So we’re organizing a workforce fair in November specifically for those businesses. We’re trying to get some short-term staffing in place so all those places can remain open,” he said.
He said the controversy doesn’t seem to have affected uptake on hotel reservations during the games.
“(Hotel operators) say normally in the period from Christmas to mid-January, their occupancy rates would be around 15 per cent. It’s the slackest point of the year, but they’re expecting at least 50 per cent occupancy, almost all of that is coming from fans and teams and officials with the world juniors.”
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