COUNTING DOWN TO THE WORLD JUNIORS: VICTORIA PART OF CANADIAN HOLIDAY TRADITION

With less than one hundred days to the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship, the countdown to puck-drop in Vancouver and Victoria is well underway. And few fans have been as excited as those within the host cities themselves. “The support in Victoria has been overwhelming,” says Riley Wiwchar, the director of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. “From volunteers to ticketbuyers, the capital has been behind this event 100 per cent.” As excitement builds towards the start of the tournament on Boxing Day and Team Canada’s pre-tournament appearances at the Save-OnFoods Memorial Centre, the release of a new ticket package offers fans in Victoria a way to experience the event once games wrap up on the Island and the tournament shifts over to Vancouver following the quarterfinals. “We wanted to give them an opportunity to be able to go over to Vancouver, watch the rest of the games, and see the tournament through to the end,” said Wiwchar of the new offering. The newly released Medal Pack consists of tickets to four games; both semifinals, along with the bronze- and gold-medal games. The packages start at $399, and are available now at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets. As Wiwchar reminds B.C. hockey fans, the opportunity to catch this action at home doesn’t come around every day. “The World Juniors are a Canadian holiday tradition, and most of us have to content ourselves to watch it on TSN,” he said. “It’s been 13 years since the event was last hosted in this province, and we want to make sure this is a special event that British Columbians will remember fondly and be proud of for years to come.”