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If you were planning on catching Team Canada in action at the upcoming world juniors and are without a ticket, you might be out of luck.
Single-game tickets for the IIHF world junior hockey event went on sale Tuesday morning to the general public, after months of only full tournament-length ticket packages being available.
According to the Ticket Atlantic website, all games involving Canada in the round-robin happening in Halifax appear to no longer have tickets available.
Tickets for the gold medal game, which will also take place at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre on Jan 5, also appear to no longer be available, along with some other playoff matchups.
“The response from hockey fans to the World Juniors returning to the Maritimes has been tremendous, and we are excited for the teams competing in this year’s tournament to experience playing in front of full venues in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,” Hockey Canada said in a statement to Global News on Tuesday.
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“Limited tickets remain for games in Halifax and Moncton, including Canada’s pre-tournament matchups at Avenir Centre, giving fans a chance to be part of the World Juniors in person.”
Hockey Canada said more than 85 per cent of tickets for the event “have been spoken for.” The tournament includes round-robin games in Halifax and Moncton, and the quarterfinals, semifinals and final in Halifax.
Read more: ‘Shame to the sport’: IIHF urged to suspend Hockey Canada
At Moncton’s Avenir Centre, which won’t host Canada for any tournament games, most tickets in the centre sections are sold, but there are a number of seats available at or near behind the net.
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Nova Scotia and New Brunswick announced back in May the success of their bid to host the tournament after the IIHF decided to pull the hosting rights of two cities in the original host country, Russia, due to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
The news of high ticket sales is a big leap from the low attendance numbers seen when a twice-delayed tournament was hosted in Edmonton earlier this summer.
Read more: Hockey Canada says it will not collect participants’ fees for 2022-23 season
Questions about the organization’s leadership and the event being held in the middle of Alberta’s short summer season were some contributing factors to the low turnout numbers.
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Hockey Canada has been under intense scrutiny since this spring over its handling of alleged sexual assaults by players, including two alleged incidents involving members of the World Juniors teams from 2003 and 2018.
In the summer, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said they are monitoring the situation around Hockey Canada and will “act accordingly.”
In October, in the wake of sweeping resignations at Hockey Canada, they released a joint statement saying: “The leadership change at Hockey Canada is an important step toward accountability and meaningful change. There are still investigations underway, and clearly there is more to be done, but we are pleased to see these changes and hope it signals they will address the ongoing issues within the organization.”
Read more: Halifax mayor wants world juniors to go ahead in wake of Hockey Canada resignations
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage also said in October that he wanted the tournament to go forward.
At the time, Savage said he wanted to see how the organization would change going forward, “but for now, that change has been made.”
“And I think that’s good news for Hockey Canada, for hockey players,” he added. “And I think it’s good news for Halifax and Moncton to host the world juniors this winter.”
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The world junior hockey tournament kicks off on Boxing Day.
— with files from Saba Aziz
