‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the rink,
Not a creature was eating, not a beer would they drink.
The stockings were hung, by the chimney with care,
The ultimate present — World Juniors tickets — stuffed inside there.
Children ‘cross Alberta, squealing with glee,
“Not so fast kid,” said Dad. “That refund’s for me.”
EDMONTON — At any given moment inside Rogers Place in Edmonton, there are 400 kegs of beer tapped and flowing through the miles of lines that snake their way to a few hundred draught taps in this 18,500-seat monolith.
It’s a hops highway that pours revenues into the pockets of the Oilers Entertainment Group. Literally, a revenue stream of beer.
But for this World Junior Hockey Championship, that river of $11 beers has been dammed by a provincial order to close all concessions — and cut attendance in half — setting the expiration clock ticking on all of that product.
Back in March 2020, when the pandemic struck and the Rogers Place went dark, they simply poured all that beer down the drain.
Under the stress of a suddenly-altered world juniors, complete with ticket refunds and a sudden ban on everything from pop to popcorn,
Stuart Ballantyne — President and COO of Oilers Entertainment Group — has a better idea, this time around.
“If this keeps up, I know how I’m going to get rid of it,” joked Ballantyne, who is ready to do a Homer Simpson under the taps at Moe’s Tavern.
If the dear Pat Quinn was still with us, he would describe the situation at the 2022 World Junior Championship as one that is not Hockey Canada or OEG’s fault. It is, however, their problem.
That includes fans who thought they had the perfect stocking stuffer ready to go, only to find out late in the afternoon on Dec. 23rd that all single-game tickets had been voided and they had a day to replace that gift. An email to those who held eight-game ticket packages is expected to go out on Friday morning, offering four-game packages instead.
All buyers will be offered a full refund, and as those tickets get freed up they will find their way back on Ticketmaster.
“The bulk of those should show up there on Saturday and Sunday. Fans should keep their eyes on the Ticketmaster site for tickets,” said Stew MacDonald, Chief Revenue Officer for OEG. “We hope the package holders love (their four games) and keep them. After that, you can take a refund and those games will be first come first serve as tickets are released.”
When last year’s world juniors was deemed a bubble event with no fans, ticket holders were given the choice of refunds or holding on to their tickets for this year’s event. Almost everyone chose the latter, for a WJC that would be held in the same arena, with hopes that COVID-19 would be behind us.
On Thursday, as the Omicron variant raged, the OEG could only enter damage control mode, certain to madden a large swath of customers in a situation that is not of their own doing.
MacDonald said they consulted with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets, all of whom have recently had to limit seating capacity, or eliminate food and beverage at the last minute.
The feeling is that many will simply seek refunds, including suite holders who had hoped to wine and dinner clients, people who enjoy the party aspect of the world juniors, and those who simply don’t feel right about joining a crowd in the 9,000 range during this surge in the pandemic.
“It’s still one of the greatest hockey tournaments in the world,” said Ballantyne, proud of the work his team has done. “It’s still on TV, and still happening. At the end of the day we watched a lot of great hockey last year with no one in the building. This year we’ll have people in the building, which will be really nice.”
As for all that food Ballantyne’s people stocked up on, any perishables will end up at local charities, as they did in March of 2020.
“We’re geared up and the freezers are full,” Ballantyne said. “There is perishable foods. The nice thing is we can serve food (Thursday) and we’ll still have some catering needs, feeding teams and people behind the scenes.”
As for the hockey, Canada beat Russia 6-4 in the only pre-tournament games for both teams. A crowd of less than 1,500 people dotted the cavernous arena, an inauspicious beginning to what will be another weird world juniors, thanks to everyone’s favourite pandemic.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
