Disappointing attendance for well-run Junior A Challenge
By Brett Browne

The recent World Junior A Challenge was another triumph for Camrose organization and know-how – it's just too bad there weren't more people there to enjoy it.

That sums up the way event co-chair Kevin Gurr is feeling about the high profile international tournament which wrapped up November 9.

"Everybody was just blown away by the organizational level of the tournament," he told The Booster last week. "As far as the operation of the tournament, we couldn't have been more pleased with how it all came together."

Gurr said the professionalism of the volunteers and the way they dealt with people was second to none. He said officials from Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) had nothing but good things to say about the Camrose organization and the way it performed.

The new Edgeworth Centre also passed its first major test with flying colours and Gurr applauded City of Camrose staff for their efforts throughout the tournament.

"Kudos to the city and their staff for making that facility work the way it did. We turned it over from a concert to start a tournament in one day and it looked spectacular from start to finish," he stated.

Organizers were less impressed with the response they got from local hockey fans who failed to show up in droves. Despite strong pre-tournament sales of full-event passes, the World Junior A Challenge failed to attract any significant walk-up traffic and most games were played before sparse crowds.

"We're quite frustrated by the fact that we just couldn't get people in the seats," lamented Gurr.

Organizers were thrilled to have sold over 1,200 full-tournament passes, but single game tickets and tickets for the opening ceremonies concert with Tom Cochrane didn't reach anticipated levels.

Gurr isn't sure why the tournament failed to capture the imagination of the Camrose community. He says anything from ticket prices to a slower economy could have contributed to the problem.

"It could be a combination of 20 different things," he said.

"There just didn't seem to be big excitement about it. Maybe international hockey doesn't excite the Camrose fans as much as it does in other communities."

The unfortunate thing, according to Gurr, is that it might be quite a while before Camrose fans get a chance to see this calibre of hockey again. Hockey Canada and the CJHL would be more than pleased to have Camrose host another championship, according to Gurr but he says local organizers aren't likely to jump on the bandwagon any time soon.

"As it sits right now, myself and our Camrose Sport Development Society are going to have to sit back and think whether it's worth putting our time and effort into an event like this if nobody is going to come out and support it," he said.

"At the end of the day we made a few dollars for the Sport Development Society, but we were really hoping to leave a bigger legacy for this non-profit organization than we did," he concludes.