In Canada, the World Junior Championship tournament usually nets massive profits that trickle all the way down to hockey’s grassroots.
The 2022 edition of the annual event, however, seems much less like a potential money-maker and far more like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl. Postponed from its normal premium slot on the sporting calendar after COVID-19 outbreaks forced teams from Russia, the United States and Czechia to forfeit preliminary round games, it is scheduled for Aug. 9-20 at Rogers Place, Edmonton’s gleaming downtown puck palace.
On Wednesday, some two weeks before puck drop, Hockey Canada officials will testify for a second time before a Parliamentary committee struck to investigate the organization’s handling or perhaps mishandling of group sexual assault allegations involving several unidentified members of the 2018 world junior team. In May, Hockey Canada settled a $3.55 million lawsuit filed by a woman alleging she was sexually assaulted by eight junior-aged players in a London, Ont.
Hockey Canada has since committed to a governance review overseen by a third party, and has re-engaged the firm of Henein Hutchison to conduct a second investigation of the 2018 incident, this time with the apparent cooperation of the alleged victim. The organization has also announced an action plan to shatter the so-called “code of silence” and “eliminate toxic behaviour in and around Canada’s game.
But it’s hard to imagine attendance reaching the heights of previous Canadian tournaments — Ottawa drew 450,000 plus in 2009 for instance — especially given the relative lack of marketing push from the IIHF and Hockey Canada. Two weeks out, the tournament does not have an overt presence in the city.Article content
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