IIHF says high ticket prices, Hockey Canada scandal led to low attendance at world juniors in Edmonton

Tickets for Edmonton's world junior men's hockey championship haven't been a hot commodity this summer and International Ice Hockey Federation officials say the high price of admission, the tournament's odd timing and a spectre of scandal are to blame for low attendance.

The 2022 tournament wrapped Saturday with Canada battling Finland for the gold medal.

Holding the world junior tournament during the hot summer instead of the usual winter holidays created a number of challenges, said IIHF president Luc Tardif.

"We knew August was not the best time and we did not expect the attendance that we do usually," he told reporters in a wide-ranging press conference before Saturday's final.

The 2022 tournament originally opened Dec. 26, 2021, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta. Rising COVID-19 cases among players and officials caused the forfeiture of games and the event was halted after just four days.

Tickets prices are set by the host country and the cost for a seat at the August version of the tournament remained steep, starting at more than $100 for many games.

Seats in the lower level ranged from $160 to $476 for Saturday's final, with a tickets in the highest reaches of the arena available for $60.

"[The IIHF] does not set the prices," tournament chair Henrik Bach Nielsen said. "I do not know if the prices were set as normal world juniors and there was no reaction to this.

"Personally, coming from Denmark, $50, $60, $100 for one of these games? Yeah, that's a high price."

Organizers needed to account for the unique challenges of redoing the 10-team tournament in the summer, he added.

"Why not, then, try to find an August price for the tickets?" Bach Nielsen said.

Hockey Canada has previously acknowledged multiple reasons for