Scandals within Hockey Canada "won't prevent Halifax and Moncton from hosting the world junior hockey championships later this year," according to Hina Alam of the CP. Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said they are "gonna go ahead" and "put this tournament on." Savage last week said that “meaningful change was needed at Hockey Canada before the tournament could take place.” He said that the world juniors “will be the first major tournament since the house cleaning at Hockey Canada.” Savage: "We've seen meaningful change. We don't know the whole story yet. We don't know who'll be on the board. We don't know who will be the CEO but I think this is a really important step." He said that a "'high number' of tickets have been sold for the tournament," which is scheduled to take place in December and January (CP, 10/13).
TOO LATE TO CHANGE: In Halifax, Willy Palov notes from a “practical standpoint,” it seems “unlikely the IIHF would've entertained a change of venue for the world juniors at this late stage anyway.” The first tournament games are "barely two and a half months away," which creates an "incredibly tight window logistically to pull up stakes and stage the event somewhere else.” Even with "ongoing fallout among corporate sponsors," it "doesn't seem like the gross missteps by Hockey Canada and the damage done to the image of junior hockey players by the alleged incidents has had any adverse affects on demand at the box office" (Halifax CHRONICLE HERALD, 10/13).
