The Halifax Mooseheads say there are a number of causes behind a bump in season ticket sales, together with ticket holders getting the primary crack at tickets for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship.
“It was a pleasant carrot, so to communicate, to try to convey them again,” stated Mooseheads president Brian Urquhart.
Urquhart declined to present a selected season ticket quantity, however stated it is greater than the workforce’s annual common of three,500.
“What we have gone by way of with the pandemic and being within the mass-gathering enterprise, our base has taken a major hit,” he stated.
The pandemic cancelled the 2019-20 season, whereas the Mooseheads have been ineligible for the 2020-21 playoffs due to journey restrictions. Gathering restrictions have been in place for a lot of the 2021-22 season.
Urquhart stated different elements behind the rise in season ticket sales have been the elimination of COVID-19 restrictions in Nova Scotia and an improved Mooseheads squad.
The workforce obtained an honourable point out within the first version of the CHL’s top-10 rankings for the season. The Mooseheads sit atop the Maritimes Division after a 3-0-1 begin.
According to Hockey Canada, greater than 4,000 Mooseheads’ season ticket holders bought tickets for the World Juniors, which start Dec. 26.
The occasion is being co-hosted by Halifax and Moncton, N.B. More than 1,000 Moncton Wildcats season ticket holders additionally bought tickets for the occasion.
“We sometimes see round 20 per cent of season ticket holders for a neighborhood workforce within the host group buy tickets for a World Junior Championship, and each communities exceeded that historic comparative,” Dean McIntosh, the vice-president of occasions and properties with Hockey Canada, stated in a press release.
Hockey Canada, the game’s nationwide governing physique, is beneath strain to make management modifications amid its dealing with of sexual assault allegations. It performs a significant position in organizing the World Juniors.
Some Nova Scotian politicans have warned that the occasion may very well be moved.
On Thursday, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston stated in a press release that “we want to see some significant modifications that respect the considerations of Nova Scotians and Canadians.”
On Friday, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage issued a joint assertion with Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold. They stated they have been searching for “significant modifications inside Hockey Canada prior to the World Junior Championship going down in our cities.”
The statements didn’t checklist any particular modifications they’d like to see made.