[GDT] 2015 IIHF WJC Prelim Round Day 2: Enter the Germans and Swiss

[Yamer]

Canada will need to improve their discipline for the rest of the tournament. Some ticky-tack calls, but mostly undisciplined.

[GettinIggyWithIt]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Well, one thing is certain after two days: Calgary and Edmonton's attendance record is in no danger of falling. Attendance in Montreal has been atrocious for the non-Canada games. Calgary's first couple days outdrew Toronto quite handily as well.

And it's not just the non Canadian games. I was there for the opener against Slovakia and there were quite a few empty seats. I was quite surprised. Tonight might be better though.

Also I sat next to a son and dad today during the Finns game and a couple of Oiler scouts sat right next to them. The son told the dad that they were Oiler scouts and the dad replied that the Oilers are always scouting because they suck...

[GettinIggyWithIt]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Through the 2 games I have watched Mikko Rantanen play in these WJC, I have to say if he is in the Flames range when it comes to their pick (if not in the top 12) I hope they take him. Just has a certain panache around the puck I really like.

I want to say a more skilled and silky version of Ferland but I feel like some people will take that as a slight against Ferland which it is not.

I was at the Finns game and Rantanen and Lehkonen certainly stood out. Honka also stood out but not always for the right reasons...makes some questionable defensive plays. He will need to work on his defensive game IMO.

[troutman]

I've read ticket prices are outrageous, and the Slovakia game had many tickets given away free to volunteers.

[GettinIggyWithIt]

Originally Posted by troutman

I've read ticket prices are outrageous, and the Slovakia game had many tickets given away free to volunteers.

I wouldn't be surprised that some were given away to volunteers. We bought a package and had to buy non Canadian games as a result. Most people at the Finland and Slovakia game were in the same boat (ie. bought the package to get the Canada game and had to take the non Canadian ones as well). Our seats are in Club Desjardins - second level first row at the blue line and they are not too bad. I think it was about $160 per ticket at face value for the opener, which is very reasonable given prices for Habs games. The tickets to the Finland -Slovakia game were $49 per ticket.

[dammage79]

That was an insane pass by reinhart for the domi goal.Wow.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Reinhart looks like the real deal. Great vision, I'm sure Sabre fans are anxious.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by GettinIggyWithIt

I wouldn't be surprised that some were given away to volunteers. We bought a package and had to buy non Canadian games as a result. Most people at the Finland and Slovakia game were in the same boat (ie. bought the package to get the Canada game and had to take the non Canadian ones as well). Our seats are in Club Desjardins - second level first row at the blue line and they are not too bad. I think it was about $160 per ticket at face value for the opener, which is very reasonable given prices for Habs games. The tickets to the Finland -Slovakia game were $49 per ticket.

$160 for a prelim game is rather silly given the face value of my ticket to the gold medal game in 2012 was around $200 (and $150 for bronze medal) - and that was 200s, row 9, on the blue line. IIRC, I paid about $1000 per ticket package, for 21 games including all medal round contests. So yeah, it sounds like Hockey Canada is gouging. That was expected, but still... 6000 fans for the afternoon game today?

[GettinIggyWithIt]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

$160 for a prelim game is rather silly given the face value of my ticket to the gold medal game in 2012 was around $200 (and $150 for bronze medal) - and that was 200s, row 9, on the blue line. IIRC, I paid about $1000 per ticket package, for 21 games including all medal round contests. So yeah, it sounds like Hockey Canada is gouging. That was expected, but still... 6000 fans for the afternoon game today?

The guy next to me was commenting that it was a lot easier to get tournament tickets than HABS tix. I expected it to be easier but he said it was much easier except for the Canada-US game. I think the Calgary/Edmonton one was certainly better value. I am not sure what the normal value of these seats are but apparently they provide free food in this section for NHL games and some of the MTL fans expected the same for the tournaments. I imagine its a lot higher than $160 so HC probably based prices on the local market. quite a drop to $50 per seat for non Canada games but makes sense given the lack if interest. Seems to me like they didn't get as much interest as they had anticipated.

When we left after the Finland game - they were still trying to sell tickets to the Canada -Germany game over the PA. I can't recall but were the prelims sold out in Calgary for the Canada games?

[Resolute 14]

Every ticket was sold for both Calgary and Edmonton, but a lot went unused, especially for the non-premium contests. They were asking people who weren't able or interested to attend individual games to donate the tickets back so others could use them.

The IIHF is one of very, very few organizations that use turnstile count for the published attendance. You can see what the figures were for individual games in Calgary and Edmonton in the game reports at the bottom of this page: http://www.iihf.com/channels1112/wm20/statistics/

When Calgary and Edmonton claimed the attendance record from Ottawa, they did so on the basis of turnstile count, not tickets sold/distributed. To put the brutal attendance in Montreal in context, Calgary had 7000 people show up for an 11AM relegation game between Latvia and Denmark on the classification day. Montreal can barely manage that figure for Team USA, and failed to come close for Finland-Slovakia.