Sizing up a sellout at FirstOntario Centre for Friday’s World Junior Championship tune-up game
At the start of the week, close to 10,000 tickets had been sold for Friday’s World Junior Championship pre-tournament game between Canada and Switzerland.
By Tuesday that number had nudged up to 11,000. And Thursday, it reached roughly 12,000.
Officials aren’t sure there’s going to be a sellout at FirstOntario Centre when the puck drops, though it might end up being close. But it’s certainly going to be the biggest crowd for a hockey game in town this year. And one of the biggest crowds for a game since the last time there was a tuneup game for this tournament, back in 2008.
That was the game John Tavares did his juggling act with his stick, bouncing the puck in the air from behind the goal line to the front of the net and ultimately into the cage. You can still find the clip on YouTube, though if you saw it live you need no reminder.
This is an interesting year for the Canadian entry. And different from that last time.
Not seen as an overwhelming favourite — not seen as a favourite at all in many corners — it isn’t loaded with household names and surefire superstars. There isn’t a Connor McDavid, Steven Stamkos or a Tavares on the roster. In Wednesday’s pre-tournament game against the Czech Republic, eight different Canadians scored en route to a 9-0 win.
The star of this team might be goalie Carter Hart who has a .961 save percentage and 1.32 goals against average with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League this year. He got the shutout in that Czech game though he had little to do.
This will be the final tuneup for Canada before opening the tournament against Finland on Boxing Day in Buffalo.
The next day, the Canadians face Slovakia which will have Hamilton Bulldog Marian Studenic in the lineup. He’s the only Bulldog playing in this tournament.
Two days after that, Canada faces the United States in an outdoor game at New Era Field, home of the Buffalo Bills. It’s the first outdoor game in tournament history and a crowd of 45,000 is expected.
However, after the Bills game a couple weeks ago that was played in blizzard-like conditions, there are concerns about snow.
Canada wraps up the round robin against Denmark on Dec. 30.
Upper-level tickets for Friday’s game — faceoff is at 7 p.m. — are still for sale for $22.