TORONTO — It has only been six months since Tom Renney was named president and chief executive of Hockey Canada, but he already has the politician part of the job pretty much nailed.
Asked on Monday afternoon about the surprisingly weak attendance in the Montreal leg of this year’s world junior championship, Renney said the reasons for that would have to be fully investigated.
“I don’t know that there’s much more to comment on,” Renney said, “until we’ve had time to review our event.”
This was the hockey-official equivalent of appointing a panel of experts to consider a particular issue, the better to delay any serious responses to it.
Asked specifically whether the ticket prices — where the face-value of seats at the Air Canada Centre and the Bell Centre were often at NHL levels even to watch teenagers from lesser hockey powers — were a problem in Montreal, Renney said: “That’s a great question. I can’t answer that.”
To be fair, the former NHL coach has reason to be reluctant to make too many declarative statements about issues with the handling of this tournament, particularly since factors such as ticket prices were determined before he took over for the departed Bob Nicholson, now in the front office of the Edmonton Oilers.
But ticket prices were plainly an issue. The four pool-play games featuring Canada averaged about 15,000 fans at the Bell Centre, an arena that holds more than 21,000. When Montreal and Toronto were selected as host cities, no one imagined empty seats, let alone thousands of them, for the home side. The stands were comparatively barren in Montreal for non-Canada games: 8,000 fans to see Finland play the United States on Dec. 26, and fewer than 4,000 to see Finland play Germany on Dec. 31, just to pick a couple of examples. Meanwhile, more than 13,000 fans were at the Air Canada Centre on Dec. 30 to take in the clash between noted hockey powers Denmark and Switzerland.
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Anecdotally, Montrealers repeatedly cited the high cost of tickets as the reason for the weak attendance, although others were offered: All the wealthy people in the city go to Florida for the holidays, you know.
Hockey Canada’s chosen two-host format was also likely a factor. Because Montreal didn’t host the semifinals or finals, ticket buyers in that city were asked to pay serious money for preliminary-round games that were just a notch above exhibitions. Four of five teams advanced from each of two groups; all a country had to do was not totally collapse and it would move to the medal round. In Toronto, ticket packages had the promise of late-medal-round games at the back end, but there was no such promise in Montreal.
René Fasel, president of the IIHF, said Sunday that organizers would have to consider moving some of the games of the 2016-17 tournament — again to be shared between Toronto and Montreal — if they couldn’t come up with a solution to the attendance issue. But Renney said on Monday that Hockey Canada was “deeply committed” to Montreal. He also said it was too early to know what the final profits of the event would be, but suggested they might end up a little lower than the $22-million booked the last time Canada hosted the WJC, in 2012 in Calgary and Edmonton.
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Whatever happens in the gold-medal match between Canada and Russia, it should be noted that the Canadians rolled to the final in a performance that rivaled their best years in the tournament in recent history. In six games — four preliminary-round games plus the quarter-final and semifinal — the Canadians outscored their opponents by a collective 34-5. Canada never trailed in any of the six games; once they established a lead they never surrendered it, building up at least a two-goal lead in each game before surrendering a goal. Heading into the final, Canada had the top three scorers in the tournament — Nic Petan, Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart — while Curtis Lazar was tied for fourth and Max Domi two points behind him in a tie for ninth. Canada’s five goals allowed prior to Monday were also the fewest in the tournament, with Russia the next closest at 12. The only goal totals in recent history that compare were those of the 2005 Canadian team, the powerhouse that included Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Getzlaf in an NHL-lockout year. That team outscored its opponents 32-5 in the preliminary round and won the gold with two victories by a collective 9-2 in the medal round.
Asked what a gold-medal loss for Canada would mean, Hockey Canada’s Renney didn’t flinch at the prospect of six years without a gold. “And 18 consecutive years in the semi-final,” he said. “I think we are doing OK.”
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In the Department of Cautionary Tales, Sweden rolled through the preliminary round with a 4-0 record, winning all four in regulation. No other team in their group managed more than one regulation win. But then after a 6-3 quarter-final win over Finland, the Swedes were drilled 4-1 by Russia in the semis and, on Monday, lost 4-2 in the bronze-medal game to Slovakia. It’s only the second medal ever for the Slovaks at this tournament, coming 16 years after a bronze in 1999. Coming out of the preliminary round, the Slovaks had been outscored 14-7. The medal round: where weird things happen.
Source:: National Post
