EDMONTON | It took 28 games to forget the huge elephant in the room. Hockey Canada can say thank you to its team – and to Finland – for the spectacle offered during the grand final last Saturday, making us forget, for the moment of a match, the failure of this edition.
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The president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (FIHG), Luc Tardif, mentioned it in a press briefing on Saturday, a few hours before the final between Canada and Finland: the World Juniors will never once more take place in august.
On the one hand, the FIHG can say mission accomplished: it has fulfilled its mandate to present a tournament in 2022, which it had promised.
little enthusiasm
By moving the tournament to August, the only time slot available for the resumption of the event, the organization knew that it would not reproduce the successes of a World Juniors presented during the holiday season. But she never would have thought that the enthusiasm would be so low.
That is also Luc Tardif who says so.
The people of Edmonton did not embark on the adventure, and we cannot blame them. The newspaper landed in Alberta on August 8 and departed Sunday morning. During this period, there is not a day when the author of these lines has not opened the curtains of his hotel room to discover a radiant sun overhanging the city. People didn’t want to go and lock themselves in an arena where it was freezing cold. It’s normal.
But it’s not just that. Ticket prices were just too high. This was also the case during the tournaments presented in Montreal and Toronto, and one wonders if Hockey Canada really learns from its mistakes. Tickets at nearly $150 for a Canada game in the middle of August were doomed from the start.
Tickets were cheaper for matches not featuring the host country, but obviously it was still too expensive. Colleagues had fun counting, one by one, the supporters in the stands during certain meetings, and it was sometimes difficult to reach 200.
The smell of scandal
But the elephant in the room was the sex scandal engulfing Hockey Canada. He was impossible to forget. Every time you walked into Rogers Place, the total absence of sponsors on the rink and on the boards was a reminder of how alone Hockey Canada is on its island right now.
Junior Team Canada players and even team head coach Dave Cameron broached the subject during post-gold press briefings, bragging regarding how resilient the group had been despite it all what surrounds the organization.
Everyone was aware and very strict measures had been put in place in the post-match festivities to ensure that there would be no excesses.
In terms of coverage, the installations had been poorly adapted to the reality of the media. The newspaper tried to mention it to an official of the FIHG, and we were threatened with withdrawal of our accreditation if we did not comply with the established rules (we were not allowed to sit on chairs to write our texts in the interview area).
Historic Final
Fortunately for Hockey Canada, the final between Canada and Finland will go down in history. When Mason McTavish prevented the puck from crossing the red line behind his goalkeeper in overtime, depriving the Finns of the victory, and seconds later Kent Johnson caused hysteria in Rogers Place, we knew we had just take part in a moment of anthology.
Finally, it was a bit the goal of the organization of this World Cup. The IIHF felt that current players did not have to pay for past failings and, despite everything that surrounded the event, the fact remains that it created lasting memories in the minds of hundreds young elite hockey players.
“To complete with a gold medal, it’s one of the best summers of my life,” said friendly Quebec Remparts forward Nathan Gaucher following the victory.
“We are world champions. Ever since I was little, I’ve been watching the Junior World Championships on my couch and that’s me. It’s just incredible,” added William Dufour.
On that point, mission accomplished.