It wouldn’t be the first time Edmonton has sold out an event so far in advance that it created headlines. The 2010 Grey Cup put up the SRO sign before the Eskimos had even played a pre-season game, for example.
But how about a sellout effectively a entire year in advance?
Indeed, they’re completely confident that will happen for the 2021 World Junior in both Edmonton and Red Deer.
And in Edmonton once it does, they’ll get on with the planning of the Ice District festival — think a winter wonderland version Jurassic Park in Toronto for the Raptors in the NBA Finals. It’ll feature games on big screens, the entire area decorated with ice sculptures and hockey-playing snowmen and the like. There will be entertainment stages, hot chocolate for kids and activations galore, most of which haven’t even been thought of yet.
“To me, the Ice District was built for things like the World Junior,” said co-chair Terry O’Flynn. “We’re welcoming the world here and it’s going to create some wonderful opportunities to do some creative and memorable things with a real focus on families and the holiday season. It’ll be the showcase signature of this event.”
The year-out, sellout goal was announced Tuesday at the launch of the 45th IIHF World Junior scheduled from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2021 in Edmonton and Red Deer.
The host committee, in partnership with Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League, also announced details of the priority ticket draw for all fans at a press conference at Rogers Place.
“When Alberta last played host to the championship in 2012, more than 175,000 entries were received for the priority draw,” said Dean McIntosh, vice-president of events and properties with Hockey Canada in announcing a Jan. 5 deadline for fans to enter the lottery.
“Having a priority draw is the only way to guarantee fans a chance to see the tournament,” he said.
It’s not like there will be 18,347 winners in Edmonton and 6,535 winners in Red Deer.
In Edmonton, Oilers and Oil Kings season ticket holders get front-of-the-line privileges as will be the case with Rebels season ticket holders in Red Deer.
An Oilers season ticket holder, for example, can buy tickets to every game in Edmonton from the opener to the gold medal game before the lottery is held.
Edmonton offers two ticket packages of eight games each involving five preliminary pool round games including two Canada games.
Package A features Canada games in the quarter-final and semifinal round if they aren’t eliminated early. Package B includes non-Canada quarterfinal and semifinal games but gets you the gold medal game.
So why would you take the package that doesn’t feature the gold medal game?
That’s the one that includes the Boxing Day and New Years Eve Canada games.
It’s actually very well thought out and seem to be selling equally from the Oil Kings and Oilers purchases so far.
The Red Deer package features three price ranges — $490, $625 and $725 — and features twice the number of games (either 16 or 17) including two pre-tournament games involving Canada, 10 preliminary games, two quarter-finals and either two or three relegation round games depending on whether a third and deciding game of the best of three series will be required.
Fans can register at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets until a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 5.
As part of the official launch, Hockey Canada introduced Terry and Grace O’Flynn of Edmonton as co-chairs of the event and announced the hiring of Riley Wiwchar of Comox, B.C. as executive director, Kevin Radomski of Edmonton and venue director Tyler King of South Frederickson, Ontario.
“The Rebels and Oil Kings season ticket holders selected their packages during the summer and the Oilers season ticket holders are in the process of selecting now,” said Wiwchar.
“Based on 2012 we expect there will be approximately 10,000 of the two packages available at Rogers Place and probably in the range of 4,000 packages available in Red Deer.
“It’s tracking very similar to the way it was in 2012 but the difference is we have to packages to sell in Edmonton compared to 2012,” said Wiwchar of the Canada games pool in Edmonton with the non-Canada pool plus the medal round game in Calgary. “This time Edmonton requires double the number of purchasers.”
The lottery will be open to any hockey fan from anywhere in the world.
No decision has been made on the location of selection camp and training camp that were held in Banff in 2012 or on any of the sites for pre-tournament games involving nations other than Canada.
“Everything will be in Alberta for sure,” said Wiwchar. “We’ve been in word with the Western Hockey League teams to see who might be interested. But anywhere in Alberta is fair game right now ”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
