Fans have been filing into the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax for more than a week now after the World Juniors hockey tournament kicked off on Boxing Day.
For many, getting to attend the World Juniors is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“It’s been on our bucket list forever and we are just so excited that we got tickets,” says Belinda Doucette, a PEI resident taking in the tournament.
However, it was a much longer trek for players’ parents.
Andrew Streule, the father of Maximilian Streule of Team Switzerland, says the family travelled about 15 hours to make it to the east coast.
“It’s amazing, it’s once a life that we’re all here to see our son and brother,” Streule says. “It’s very exciting and very cool.”
‘Amazing host destination’
Events East Group, the managing and operating company of the Scotiabank Centre, says more than 250 staff are involved, excluding Hockey Canada personnel, volunteers and officials.
Suzanne Fougere, the company’s executive vice president, says they’ve learned a lot since the puck dropped in Halifax. Part of the challenge is hosting multiple games per day and preparing the rink for more fans and hockey.
“I think hosting this event for us is a great affirmation of what we’ve always known, which is that Halifax, Nova Scotia, and really the Atlantic region, is an amazing host destination,” Fougere says.
Maxwell Holman, 11, and his brother Joseph, 10, received tickets to the Monday afternoon game through Secret Santa with family.
“It means a lot,” Maxwell says. “I get to watch my first World Juniors game.”
To mark the east coast hosting experience, Team Canada’s goal song is Heave Away by The Fables.
That’ll be something the team — and nation — hopes to continue hearing well into this week. The bronze and gold medal games are Thursday in Halifax.
Doucette, visiting from PEI, is maintaining her hopes “that Canada will go all the way.”
50/50 sales support hockey inclusivity and safety
Meanwhile, Hockey Canada announced Monday that more than $1 million of 50/50 tickets — which can be purchased online in six provinces — have been sold throughout this tournament. The governing body says “net proceeds are going to support organizations that work towards greater safety and inclusiveness in and around hockey.”
Specifically, money raised in the host provinces will go towards “sexual violence education, female hockey associations, and additional diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives determined by Hockey New Brunswick and Hockey Nova Scotia,” Hockey Canada says in a statement.
This comes as concerns continue to be raised about the need for change in hockey culture, given sexual assault allegations from two prior tournaments, including in 2003, when the event was hosted in Halifax, and in 2018, when Buffalo, NY, was the host.