Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

10 days out, 10 flags raised as Vancouver welcomes World Junior Hockey Tournament

Team Canada opens up round robin play on Boxing Day against Denmark
wjrs
Mayor Kennedy Stewart, Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo and tournament director Riley Wiwchar are primed for next week’s World Junior Championship kickoff in Vancouver and Victoria.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart is seemingly not a man of superstition.

Ten days out from Canada’s first game at the World Junior Hockey Tournament in Vancouver, Stewart did what many in the sports world consider unthinkable and bordering on blasphemy — he touched the trophy.

Noting Canada’s three previous gold medal hockey wins in Vancouver — 2006 World Juniors and double gold during the 2010 Olympics — Stewart’s hoping history repeats itself come Jan. 5 at Rogers Arena.

“We like to think of Vancouver as a gold medal city for Hockey Canada,” Stewart said.

Flanked by tournament officials, city staff and Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo, Stewart was presented with a Team Canada jersey and posed for photos alongside the 10 flags representing each nation competing in the annual winter rite of passage.

All of Canada’s round robin games will be played at Rogers Arena and Game One is Boxing Day against Denmark. Other round robin games are being played in Victoria, and the gold medal game goes Jan. 5 at 5 p.m.

“Vancouver, we’re ready,” proclaimed tournament director Riley Wiwchar.

About $80 million in economic activity was kicked up the last time the tournament was in town and Toigo expects to meet, if not exceed, those numbers this time out.

Canada’s round robin grouping includes the Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland and Denmark. Group B includes Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and the U.S. 

Game time for each Canadian contest during round robin play is 5 p.m., with the exception of a 1 p.m. matinee against the Swiss on Dec. 29.

@JohnKurucz