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Truro and Halifax prepare to co-host 2020 IIHF World Women’s Hockey Championship
For the first time in 16 years, the IIHF Women’s World Championship will be decided in Nova Scotia.
Truro and Halifax will jointly host the major event in 2020.
e news was announced Tuesday morning at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax by Scott Smith, president and chief operating o cer of Hockey Canada, and Nova Scotia Communities, Culture and Heritage Minister Leo Glavine.
“We’re really excited about it,” Truro Mayor Bill Mills said, during an announcement held later in the afternoon at the RECC. “And I guess the big thing too is the impact it will have on young women hockey players in our region. So that should be a positive thing, too.”
Mills, Colchester Mayor Christine Blair, and Halifax Mayor Mike Savage as well as Canada’s national team members Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton and Jill Saulnier of Halifax were also on hand for the earlier announcement.
“We are very con dent in Halifax and Truro as hosts for this event,” Smith said, in a news release issued by Hockey Canada. “ ey have a proven track record of hosting events of this calibre and getting the chance to showcase the best female players in the world on Canadian ice is something young fans will remember for a long time.”
Halifax and Dartmouth hosted the 2004 world championship, which drew nearly 90,000 hockey fans – an average of 4,400 per game – to the eight-day international tournament.
e seven-day 2020 championship will run from late March to early April with both the RECC and the Scotiabank Centre providing venues for the games.
After hosting the last world Junior A Challenge in December, Mills said he was approached by a lot of people who said, “it’s hard to believe this is Truro.”
“In my remarks in Halifax this morning, I said, ‘we ain’t seen anything yet.’”
Having the RECC co- host the international women’s hockey challenge is proof of that, he said.
Blair echoed Mills’s sentiments at the Truro announcement.
“We will host the best in the world,” she said. “It’s truly an honour to be hosting such a high-calibre event with the world’s best female hockey players.”
A combined bid from Hockey Nova Scotia, the province, the Town of Truro and Halifax Regional Municipality was submitted.
Total budget is estimated at $3.5 million with $250,000 coming from the provincial government and additional funding to come from Halifax. Truro and Colchester County are each contributing $50,000.
But based on monetary returns from past events in other areas, both local communities and the province as a whole can expect the women’s championships to generate a signi - cant economic impact.
British Columbia, for example, benefited from $7.4 million in economic impact throughout the province when it hosted the tourney in 2016, with $6.2 million being generated in Kamloops alone, according to Hockey Canada. And Ontario, in 2013, was even more successful, by bringing in $14.3 million to the province.
Hockey Canada representative Dean McIntosh said hockey in Nova Scotia will bene t from a $600,000 legacy fund following the World Women’s Championship.
It’s estimated up to 82,000 people will attend the games, according to a sta report to Halifax council.
“We appreciate the confidence Hockey Canada and the IIHF have shown in our province and we know our communities will deliver an event that far exceeds their hosting requirements,” Glavine said. “We are seeing signi cant growth of women’s hockey in our province, and bringing the IIHF Women’s World Championship back to Nova Scotia will inspire even more young female players to pursue their dreams.”
And Hockey Nova Scotia president Garth Isenor said he is “beyond thrilled.”
“We know from experience what hosting this event can mean for female hockey in our region and we are con dent this tournament will leave a lasting impact on the growth and development of the female game here in Nova Scotia,” he said.