(Image Credit: The Canadian Press)

By Ian Gustafson

Tickets to go fast

25,000 sign up in priority draw for World Junior tickets in Red Deer

Jan 12, 2026 | 5:01 PM

Tickets are expected to go quickly for the 2027 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Red Deer.

That’s according to Red Deer Rebels Senior Vice President Merrick Sutter, who reported over 80,000 registrants for the public priority draw through Hockey Canada for the games in Red Deer and Edmonton.

Of that, approximately 25,000 people signed up for the priority draw to purchase tickets in Red Deer.

“There’s obviously significant interest from all parts of Alberta, Canada, and I think it’s quite widespread where those requests came from,” Sutter said.

The world’s biggest international U20 junior hockey tournament is set to come to Red Deer and Edmonton from Dec. 26, 2026, to Jan. 5, 2027.

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He explained that Rebels 2026-27 season ticket holders will have first access to seats before the general public. The Centrium holds approximately 7,819 people.

So far, he said they’ve had over 1,000 occupied by season ticket holders before they turn over the rest of the seats to Hockey Canada to fill the remaining seats available.

“We would expect at the end of January, all the available seats at this time will be sold. There will hopefully be some single-game tickets and probably some packages remaining for Rebels season ticket holders, both new and renewing, in the spring, but it will be much more limited.”

After people registered for the draw in December, Sutter said the numbers were pretty close to what they were the last time Red Deer was set to host the tournament in 2021-22. He explained that tickets went on sale in 2019-20 right before the pandemic hit. They’re within 90 per cent of those numbers at the same point in time.

Within the next 10 days, Hockey Canada will notify the winners of the priority draw, and then there will be a day towards the end of the month where they can purchase the available seats.

“If anyone wants to get in before they are all gone, now would be the time for next year’s season ticket holders,” Sutter said. “At this point, all indications are that it’s going to be a very popular event next December. It should be a really good boost for the local economy.”

Recently, the initial groups were set for the tournament.

Canada is set to headline Group A at Rogers Place in Edmonton along with Czechia, Latvia, Switzerland and Norway.

Meantime, Group B at the Centrium will feature Sweden, Finland, the U.S., Slovakia and Germany.

However, this isn’t set in stone.

As hosts, Canada does have the right to switch two similarly-seeded teams if desired. The final schedule will be released sometime in the spring.

“Either way, it’ll be a good pool in Red Deer, and if it stays the same, then it shapes up to be an exceptional pool,” Sutter said. “It’s pretty remarkable to see where the interest comes for this event, you know how far they’ll travel to see it.”

In addition to all of the Group B action, Red Deer will also host two pre-tournament Team Canada games at the Centrium, which is included in some of the packages that Hockey Canada offers.

There will be 10 round robin games played at the Centrium for Group B, as well as two quarter-final matchups.

Red Deer first hosted the annual under-20 tournament in 1995.

“I can’t think of a hockey event under our purview that hasn’t been hosted here,” Sutter said. “I think you host an event first and foremost for the community and the economic impact and the eyeballs that it brings. This one especially… This area has always shown well on TV and in person, so there’s no doubt in my mind that it’ll show well again in December.”