Maritime fans anxiously await sale of World Junior Hockey tickets

Hockey Canada is currently gathering names of fans who want to purchase tickets for the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship in Halifax and Moncton. They will soon hold a lottery of sorts, to determine who will be able to watch games in person.

"We will be clarifying in June the exact process which we will be going through, to identify who is eligible to purchase tickets, and then we will operate that process during August," said Dean McIntosh, Hockey Canada's vice-president of events.

The international tournament will be held at Halifax's Scotiabank Centre and Moncton's Avenir Centre from Dec. 23, 2022 to Jan. 5, 2023.

Preference will be given to Halifax Mooseheads and Moncton Wildcats season-ticketholders. According to McIntosh, so far the demand for tickets has been overwhelming, and he expects them to sell quickly during the summer months.

"We are likely going to put pre-competition games in both venues as well, so I can see us being upwards of 35 games in the two communities.," said McIntosh who added that attendance could approach 300,000 combined for both cities.

Hockey Canada expects there to be a rush to purchase tickets from fans across the country. New Brunswick hockey scout and blogger Craig Eagles said there is already a high level of anticipation in Moncton.

"People are searching out ticket packaging and pricing," said Eagles, who is confident the Avenir Centre will likely sell out. "But there is worry around acquiring those packages. As we know, once they go on sale, those tickets are not going to last very long."

Some fans have already planned their Christmas hockey vacations before tickets are even available. Hotel rooms are getting booked up at a rapid rate.

"The phones have been busy," said Michael Young, the director of sales and marketing for the Atlantica Hotel in Halifax. "You need to book a room now because of the impact it’s going to have on our city and the hotels, just in the HRM is going to be amazing."

Young added it will likely result in 100 per cent occupancy for many hotels once tickets go on sale.