The degree of World Cup of Hockey "fever depends on which
side of the 49th parallel you're taking the reading," according
to David Shoalts of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. Shoalts examines
North American ticket sales and media coverage of the event --
which is set to hit full stride this weekend. Shoalts: "In
Canada, it ranges from lukewarm to warm, with World Cup marketers
insisting there are gusts to hot, while in the United States
there's a definite chill despite some strong ticket sales." In
Philadelphia, Flyers officials are calling all three games at the
new CoreStates Center "virtual sellouts." At Madison Square
Garden, the U.S-Russia Labor Day game is sold out, but close to
6,000 seats remain for the U.S.-Slovakia matchup. In Montreal's
21,273-seat Molson Centre, almost 11,000 tickets are left for
both Saturday's game between Russia-Slovakia and a second round
matchup. The best sales in Montreal are for Games 2 and 3 of the
best-of-three final, where about 14,500 and 12,000 seats have
been sold, respectively. Tonight's Russia-Canada game in
Vancouver is sold out and two of three games scheduled for
Ottawa's 18,500-seat Corel Centre are nearly sold. As for
interest in, and media coverage, of the events, Shoalts notes
Philadelphia Daily News hockey writer Les Bowen, who says, "You'd
be better off trying to find out about Ugandan soccer" (Toronto
GLOBE & MAIL, 8/29)
