photo: Matt Zambonin / IIHF
The 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship comes to an end today in Halifax.
Fans watching on TSN see the action on the ice, but the activity behind the scenes is a major part of welcoming the world to what is one of the major events on the international hockey calendar.
Ever wonder what exactly goes into – and comes out of – hosting the World Juniors? Let’s take a look at the numbers:
4: Number of times a team has won gold after losing its opening game. Canada can join Russia (1999, 2011), Finland (2019) and the United States (2021) with a win tonight.
23: Points for tournament leader Connor Bedard, a new record for a Canadian and the most by any player since Peter Forsberg set the all-time single-tournament record with 31 in 1993.
22: Years since Czechia had appeared in the gold medal game before this year. The Czechs have won only one medal since winning back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2001 – a bronze in 2005.
23: Officials assigned to work the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, representing nine countries – Canada (6), United States (4), Sweden (3), Czechia (2), Finland (2), Germany (2), Slovakia (2), France (1) and Switzerland (1).
29: Players who were selected in the first round of the NHL Draft in 2021 and 2022 (Canada – 9; United States – 7; Sweden – 6; Czechia – 2; Finland – 2; Slovakia – 2; Switzerland – 1).
55: Faceoff wins in 81 draws for Team Canada centre Logan Stankoven, for a tournament-leading 67.9% win rate – the second-consecutive time he has led the World Juniors in that statistic.
38.19: Speed, in kilometres per hours, reached by Jonas Dobnig (SUI) and Logan Cooley (USA) during the preliminary round, the fastest speeds recorded. Connor McDavid, widely considered the fastest skater in the world, has been clocked in excess of 44 km/h.
39: Round-trip journeys between Halifax and Moncton (262.2 km each way) by teams, officials and other stakeholders, and over 20,358 kilometres of intercity travel.
46.4: Success rate of Canada’s power play through the semifinals. The Canadians are 13-for-28 with the man advantage; no other team has scored more than six goals.
196: Goals scored through the semifinals, by 103 different players. The highest single-game total was 11, done four times (Sweden vs. Austria, Canada vs. Germany, Canada vs. Austria, United States vs. Germany), while the lowest was Sweden’s 1-0 prelim triumph over Germany.
254: Volunteers who gave their time across seven different committees in Halifax and Moncton. Volunteers worked 1,785 shifts, totalling more than 10,000 hours, during pre-tournament and the World Juniors.
1,314: Social media posts sent across all Hockey Canada platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) from Dec. 19 (when pre-tournament play started) through Jan. 4. The posts earned 48,871,480 impressions and 2,560,649 engagements.
1,706: Minutes of hockey played through the end of the semifinals. Two games were decided in a shootout and four were settled in overtime – Attilio Biasca scored for Switzerland to beat Finland in the tournament opener, Ludvig Jansson gave Sweden a win over Czechia, Connor Bedard netted a memorable winner for Canada in a quarterfinal victory over Slovakia and Jiri Kulich was the overtime hero for the Czechs to beat Sweden in the semifinals.
4,880: Attendance for the relegation-round game between Latvia and Austria in Halifax on Jan. 2, making it one of the highest-attended relegation games in World Juniors history.
5,000+: Hotel nights booked in Halifax and Moncton by teams, Hockey Canada staff, International Ice Hockey Federation staff and media, among other groups.
5,214: Meals served to teams from Dec. 18 to Jan 5.
10,974: Attendance for #ExploreNB Fan Fest in Halifax, which was hosted at the Halifax Convention Centre from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5. The free event featured live viewing of all World Juniors games, a Tourism New Brunswick exhibit, glow parties and live performances from an array of local musicians, including Plywood Joe, Kelsey Albert and The Town Heroes.
11,000+: Approximate number of in-venue transactions in Halifax and Moncton, with an average transaction value of $91.87.
202,138: Total attendance for all 28 games through the semifinals, an average of 7,219 per game. The single-game high was 10,636 for the Canada-United States semifinal in Halifax.
1,501,900: Average number of television viewers for Team Canada games during the preliminary round. The Canada vs. Sweden game was the No. 1 English sports broadcast in Canada on New Year’s Eve.
2,108,150: Amount, in dollars, generated from World Juniors 50/50 ticket sales across all six participating provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) through Jan. 4.
13,659,508: Page views at HockeyCanada.ca from Dec. 26-Jan. 4. Traffic to IIHF World Junior Championship-related pages totalled 10,675,466 views, or 78.15% of all web traffic.
Fans watching on TSN see the action on the ice, but the activity behind the scenes is a major part of welcoming the world to what is one of the major events on the international hockey calendar.
Ever wonder what exactly goes into – and comes out of – hosting the World Juniors? Let’s take a look at the numbers:
4: Number of times a team has won gold after losing its opening game. Canada can join Russia (1999, 2011), Finland (2019) and the United States (2021) with a win tonight.
23: Points for tournament leader Connor Bedard, a new record for a Canadian and the most by any player since Peter Forsberg set the all-time single-tournament record with 31 in 1993.
22: Years since Czechia had appeared in the gold medal game before this year. The Czechs have won only one medal since winning back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2001 – a bronze in 2005.
23: Officials assigned to work the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, representing nine countries – Canada (6), United States (4), Sweden (3), Czechia (2), Finland (2), Germany (2), Slovakia (2), France (1) and Switzerland (1).
29: Players who were selected in the first round of the NHL Draft in 2021 and 2022 (Canada – 9; United States – 7; Sweden – 6; Czechia – 2; Finland – 2; Slovakia – 2; Switzerland – 1).
55: Faceoff wins in 81 draws for Team Canada centre Logan Stankoven, for a tournament-leading 67.9% win rate – the second-consecutive time he has led the World Juniors in that statistic.
38.19: Speed, in kilometres per hours, reached by Jonas Dobnig (SUI) and Logan Cooley (USA) during the preliminary round, the fastest speeds recorded. Connor McDavid, widely considered the fastest skater in the world, has been clocked in excess of 44 km/h.
39: Round-trip journeys between Halifax and Moncton (262.2 km each way) by teams, officials and other stakeholders, and over 20,358 kilometres of intercity travel.
46.4: Success rate of Canada’s power play through the semifinals. The Canadians are 13-for-28 with the man advantage; no other team has scored more than six goals.
196: Goals scored through the semifinals, by 103 different players. The highest single-game total was 11, done four times (Sweden vs. Austria, Canada vs. Germany, Canada vs. Austria, United States vs. Germany), while the lowest was Sweden’s 1-0 prelim triumph over Germany.
254: Volunteers who gave their time across seven different committees in Halifax and Moncton. Volunteers worked 1,785 shifts, totalling more than 10,000 hours, during pre-tournament and the World Juniors.
1,314: Social media posts sent across all Hockey Canada platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) from Dec. 19 (when pre-tournament play started) through Jan. 4. The posts earned 48,871,480 impressions and 2,560,649 engagements.
1,706: Minutes of hockey played through the end of the semifinals. Two games were decided in a shootout and four were settled in overtime – Attilio Biasca scored for Switzerland to beat Finland in the tournament opener, Ludvig Jansson gave Sweden a win over Czechia, Connor Bedard netted a memorable winner for Canada in a quarterfinal victory over Slovakia and Jiri Kulich was the overtime hero for the Czechs to beat Sweden in the semifinals.
4,880: Attendance for the relegation-round game between Latvia and Austria in Halifax on Jan. 2, making it one of the highest-attended relegation games in World Juniors history.
5,000+: Hotel nights booked in Halifax and Moncton by teams, Hockey Canada staff, International Ice Hockey Federation staff and media, among other groups.
5,214: Meals served to teams from Dec. 18 to Jan 5.
10,974: Attendance for #ExploreNB Fan Fest in Halifax, which was hosted at the Halifax Convention Centre from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5. The free event featured live viewing of all World Juniors games, a Tourism New Brunswick exhibit, glow parties and live performances from an array of local musicians, including Plywood Joe, Kelsey Albert and The Town Heroes.
11,000+: Approximate number of in-venue transactions in Halifax and Moncton, with an average transaction value of $91.87.
202,138: Total attendance for all 28 games through the semifinals, an average of 7,219 per game. The single-game high was 10,636 for the Canada-United States semifinal in Halifax.
1,501,900: Average number of television viewers for Team Canada games during the preliminary round. The Canada vs. Sweden game was the No. 1 English sports broadcast in Canada on New Year’s Eve.
2,108,150: Amount, in dollars, generated from World Juniors 50/50 ticket sales across all six participating provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) through Jan. 4.
13,659,508: Page views at HockeyCanada.ca from Dec. 26-Jan. 4. Traffic to IIHF World Junior Championship-related pages totalled 10,675,466 views, or 78.15% of all web traffic.