Hosting a Hockey Canada national championship is an exciting venture. But not unlike the players that put their blood, sweat and tears into succeeding on the ice, it takes a lot of time, effort and commitment off the ice to ensure a major hockey event succeeds – and exceeds – your community’s expectations.

But the blood, sweat and tears are often worth it in the end. In fact, many Canadian cities have proven themselves to be reliable and rewarding hosts for Hockey Canada, and as a result of their success have had multiple opportunities to welcome the country’s top players to their communities.

For instance, the City of Charlottetown played host to the 2012 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, from April 22-28, and it was just the latest in a string of major hockey events held in the Prince Edward Island capital. Internationally, the city welcomed two World Sledge Hockey Challenges, in 2008 and 2009, and nationally, the hockey hub held the 2006 TELUS Cup, Canada’s National Midget Championship, as well as the 2003 Royal Bank Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

“We’ve established a pretty good relationship with Hockey Canada through hosting these types of tournaments,” Rob Newson, executive director of Hockey P.E.I., told The Charlottetown Guardian. “These kinds of events fit into our plan. It’s quite obvious people in our region love hockey. There’s always a great volunteer base and passion for the game.”

“We are well-positioned, with all of the right elements to host sport events, from venues to hotels to volunteers,” City of Charlottetown events development officer Wayne Long agreed. “When Charlottetown hosts events, the event becomes the city.”

It’s those sorts of qualities that Hockey Canada looks for in its host communities. Those that will succeed require a recipe of positive values. Other important ingredients include active community engagement, a strong network of dedicated volunteers, corporate sponsorship to back the costs of holding such an event, and exposure of your host team and its players – just to name a few. Mix that with every day values such has hard work, dedication and determination, and you’ll be sure to cook up a rewarding experience for everyone involved.

Those rewards range from character building, to economy building.

“Anytime we host a Hockey Canada event, the economic spinoff will be there,” Newson said.

Hosting a tournament showcasing the country’s top teams, or even impressive international entries, is huge for communities such as Charlottetown, a small city on a small Maritime island. Hockey Canada events naturally bring along an influx of visitors seeking hotel stays, restaurant meals and a dose of ever-friendly Canadian hospitality.

“(These) are all values that a Hockey Canada national championship brings to a community,” Dean McIntosh, director of marketing services and events for Hockey Canada, told The Charlottetown Guardian.

Events such as the Esso Cup are typically the cause of bustling hotels, restaurants and shops, but that’s not their only benefit to the host community. They also generate a groundswell of local pride and excitement. And it’s that pride, and that excitement, that keep events coming back to Charlottetown.

“A retrospective look at recent host communities shows that once a community hosts an event, there is a desire by that community to host future events,” McIntosh said. “Summerside, Charlottetown, St. John’s, London and Camrose are all cities that have hosted more than one event in the last five years.”

While Elgar Petersen Arena was the epicentre of Junior A hockey for one week in May, the 2012 RBC Cup reached much further than the borders of Humboldt, Sask.

From the east (Woodstock, N.B.) to the west (Penticton, B.C.) and hundreds of points in between, Canadian hockey fans thirsted for knowledge when it came to Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

A quick look at website numbers for the RBC Cup’s home at hockeycanada.ca tells an impressive story; already Hockey Canada’s most popular national championship, the RBC Cup surpassed all previous numbers in 2012, becoming the No. 2 destination on hockeycanada.ca for the entire year.

For the nine days of the event – May 5-13 – the home/news page for the 2012 RBC Cup was viewed 192,785 times (123,484 unique), with 163,095 of those views (84.6%) coming from the hockeycanada.ca/rbccup address.

Compare that to numbers from the 2011 RBC Cup in Camrose, Alta.: 144,820 views of the home/news page (95,994 unique), with 28,940 (19.9%) coming directly through hockeycanada.ca/rbccup.

It adds up to a 33.1% increase in overall visitors to the RBC Cup home/news page, and a whopping 463.6% jump in the number of visitors who got there using the hockeycanada.ca/rbccup address.

“We made a concerted effort to push the direct link throughout promotion for this year’s RBC Cup, and obviously that showed in the final numbers,” said Ryan Robins, Hockey Canada’s event manager for the 2012 RBC Cup. “We wanted to make it as easy as possible for fans of Junior A hockey to follow the national championship.”

But it wasn’t just the home/news page that saw jumps in web traffic; the schedule/results (113,175 to 170,680, +50.8%) and statistics/standings (32,934 to 44,244, +34.3%) both had significant increases, helping the RBC Cup sit behind only the IIHF World Junior Championship in terms of overall page views in 2012.

In all, the 2012 RBC Cup had the top 11 most-viewed pages on hockeycanada.ca during its nine-day run (including the pages mentioned above and individual game summaries), a stat made all the more impressive considering the tournament went head to head with the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Aside from the website increases, the 2012 RBC Cup broke new ground in other areas, as well.

Into its second season, the RBC Cup Facebook and Twitter accounts went where no national event accounts had gone before – Facebook broke the 2,000-Like barrier, finishing at 2,776, while Twitter garnered 1,358 followers, both more than any other national event, by a considerable margin.

Then there’s the free FASTHockey webcasts – fans were able to check out every game (except the championship game, which was broadcast from coast to coast by TSN/RDS) just by liking the RBC Cup Facebook page.

And while the no-charge offer certainly bumped up viewership as compared to previous years (this was the first season Hockey Canada offered its games free) the numbers were impressive nonetheless.

The 12 games at the 2012 RBC Cup garnered 14,354 viewers, an average of 1,196 per game, with a high of 1,575 for the semifinal between the Penticton Vees and Soo Thunderbirds. In all, nine of the 12 games cracked the 1,000-viewer mark.

So what do the increased web numbers, social media fans and webcast viewership mean for the future, not only for the RBC Cup, but for all of Hockey Canada’s national events?

According to Robins, Hockey Canada will be employing full-time social media staff to really push the envelope on Facebook and Twitter, and all Hockey Canada events will see an increased video presence.

“We really feel that with the attention we’ve received over the last few years, along with some new things that we’re doing with video and social media and really promoting the teams and players, there’s nowhere to go but up,” he said. “We have some tremendous events, and they’re only going to get better.”

Hockey Canada’s domestic events have long been an opportunity for players to get their first taste of the national and international stage.

From Yzerman, MacInnis and Sakic at the Air Canada (now TELUS) Cup to Turris, Colborne and Schwartz at the World Junior A Challenge, the game’s future stars have shined in their first forays into the Canadian hockey spotlight.

This year, Canadians have better opportunities than ever to watch Hockey Canada events live via webcast, thanks to the organization’s partnership with FASTHockey.  

Hockey Canada and FASTHockey have partnered for a number of years to webcast national and international events from across the country, but this is the first season Hockey Canada has made the investment to offer the games for free, and the viewership numbers have been staggering.

The first test of the free-for-view webcasts was Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp in August, which attracted 13,584 viewers for the two Red-White games from Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta.

To put that number in perspective, during the entire 2010-11 season, which included 126 games at nine events, viewership totalled 5,677, or less than half of the two games in Edmonton, although games were pay-per-view in 2010-11, available for $6.99 each.

Through Hockey Canada’s fall and winter schedule this season – 126 games at eight events, including 33 games at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship – more than 85,000 fans have watched games, a remarkable 1,400% increase from one season to the next.

“We couldn’t be happier with the webcast numbers that we’ve seen so far this season,” said Dean McIntosh, director of marketing services and events for Hockey Canada. “We knew the appetite for hockey was there, and we made the decision to invest in our webcasts and get our events out there for free, which has been a tremendous addition to our partnership with FASTHockey.”

The process to watch the games for free is easy, and benefits Hockey Canada’s social media platforms as well. Fans visit www.fasthockey.com to sign up for a free FASTHockey account before visiting the Facebook page of the event they want to watch (www.facebook.com/hockeycanada for national team events).

For example, if a fan wanted to watch the action at the RBC Cup, they would sign up through FASTHockey, then visit www.facebook.com/rbccup and Like that page. When it was time for the puck to drop, they’d return to the RBC Cup Facebook page, click on the HC on FASTHockey link, enter their FASTHockey username and password and enjoy the free action.

The benefits are there for Hockey Canada, its events and its social media impact, and for FASTHockey.

“Hockey Canada has been an incredible partner for us,” said Marc Ruskin, president of FASTHockey, “We have worked together to develop a program that delivers incredible hockey content to fans around the world for free.  We have enjoyed every step in our relationship and look forward to continuing to provide an incredible digital experience to thirsty hockey fans from across the globe.”

While the focus for fans attending one of Hockey Canada’s domestic events tends to be on the action on the ice, and for good reason, host committees are often just as interested in what happens off the ice, in the arena and around the community.

To help with that interest, Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA), selects a few events every year and does an economic impact assessment, giving future host committees a look at past events, particularly those in their area of the country.

STEAM (Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model) is a cutting-edge, economic impact assessment tool that predicts and measures the economic impact of a sport event on a community in Canada, looking at everything from accommodation costs for visitors to jobs supported by the event.

So what does Hockey Canada think of the value of the CSTA assessments?

“To us an organization, having these studies done is a no brainer,” said Dean McIntosh, Hockey Canada’s director of marketing services and events. “We can tell host committees about the benefits of hosting until we’re blue in the face, but having these hard numbers, and seeing the impressive totals from past events, really hits home.”

For example, a CSTA study was conducted during the 2011 TELUS Cup, which brought five teams from across the country – Vancouver, Winnipeg, London, Lac St-Louis and Halifax – to St. John’s, N.L., in April to compete for Canada’s National Midget Championship.

While the tournament on the ice was one of the most competitive in its 38-year history, with the Winnipeg Thrashers taking home the gold medal, the impact off the ice as just as impressive.

According to the STEAM report, the 2011 TELUS Cup generated close to $1.8 million in economic activity for the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador, with $1.3 million coming from the City of St. John’s. Visitors to the city for the event, who totaled more than 500, including friends, family, media and scouts, spent an average of $750 each and more than $550,000 in wages were supported across the province.

So while the impact of hosting a national championship on the east coast was evident, what about an international event on the west coast?
In November 2010, six teams – two Canadian entries (East and West), along with Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States – converged on Penticton, B.C., to go for gold at the World Junior A Challenge.

The STEAM report released following the tournament, at which the United States won its third consecutive WJAC gold medal with a thrilling gold medal game victory over Canada East, showed the event generated almost $2.2 million in economic activity for the Province of British Columbia, including $1.5 million from the City of Penticton, and supported over $800,000 in wages, with friends, family, media and scouts spending upwards of $800 each during their visit.

For more information on the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance and Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM) reports, visit www.canadiansporttourism.com or talk to a Hockey Canada marketing services and events representative.

PAST SPORT TOURISM ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT MODEL (STEAM) REPORTS

Hockey Canada Event	Location	Community Impact	Provincial Impact
2011 TELUS Cup	St. John’s, N.L.	$1.3 million	$1.8 million
2010 World Junior A Challenge	Penticton, B.C.	$1.5 million	$2.2 million
2010 RBC Cup	Dauphin, Man.	$2.2 million	$3.1 million
2010 TELUS Cup	Levis, Que.	$636,000	$1.2 million
2009 World Sledge Hockey Challenge	Charlottetown, P.E.I.	$238,000	$381,000
2009 World U17 Hockey Challenge	Port Alberni, B.C.	$740,000	$1.4 million
2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup	Prince George, B.C.	$2.5 million	$3.8 million

It may be the most obvious statement ever, but Canadians love their hockey.

Many are willing to go to any length to see their favourite team play – whether it be a mid-winter snowstorm or a Sunday night road game four hours away, when work awaits on Monday morning.

But what happens when seeing the team live is no longer an option? What happens when the team qualifies for a national championship, or players from the team are selected for provincial, regional or national team duty?

No problem.

The 2010-11 season saw the continuation of the partnership between Hockey Canada and FASTHockey, bringing games from national and international events across Canada live to fans from coast to coast and around the world via webcast.

In total, 120 games from eight events – held from Penticton, B.C., to St. John’s, N.L. – were webcast during the season and watched more than 6,000 times, giving fans a live and up-to-the-second way of keeping up with their team.

Undoubtedly, those webcasts helped promote the events leading up to their respective TSN/RDS broadcasts – more than 300,000 fans watched teams win national championships and gold medals on national television.

But before trophies were hoisted and gold medals were handed out, Hockey Canada ensured the fans would have more than just the game to watch, thanks to an enhanced content plan for all of its webcasts.

For the first time, webcasts included pre-game and post-game shows, along with video features, sit-down interviews and trivia contests in the intermissions, giving viewers a full Hockey Canada experience. All of the video features produced also appeared on the event site at HockeyCanada.ca, which has become a valuable tool in event promotion.

“The goal has always been to promote these events to the highest level, and I think what we’ve done this season in terms of our webcasts is a tremendous first step,” says Dean McIntosh, director of marketing services and events for Hockey Canada. “We have been able to showcase our players, teams and events more so than in past years, and it’ll be exciting to see what more we can do as we move forward.”

So what does the future hold?

Look for Hockey Canada to find ways to make its webcasts more interactive, getting the fans at home involved just as much as the fans in the arena. Options include at-home prize winners, who enter with a special code available only to those who purchase the webcast, or trivia contests where in-arena contestants are paired with at-home partners.

The possibilities are endless, and with a successful first season in the books, the future looks bright for FASTHockey webcasts, and their role in the growth of Hockey Canada’s national and international events.

Walk into an arena during a Hockey Canada national or international event, and you shouldn’t have any trouble locating the FanZone – it’s the loud, brightly-dressed, energetic section charged with being the voice and heart of the fan experience.

Introduced at the 2010 World Junior A Challenge in Penticton, B.C., the FanZone is a joint effort between Hockey Canada and the tournament’s host committee. The host committee works to find the fans, and Hockey Canada outfits them – cowboy hats, coveralls and face paint to look good, cowbells and horns to sound good.

Of course, fans are welcome to dress up on their own and bring their own noise makers; once they’re in their seats, the rules of the FanZone are pretty simple: be loud, but don’t be abusive or offensive.

So how can Joe Fan join the FanZone?

Hockey Canada and the host committee use a wide-ranging recruitment program that includes everything from the official event website to Facebook, Twitter, local newspapers and radio and television stations.

How about a radio contest where fans have to call in with their cheer? Maybe a daily secret word in the local newspaper that creates a phrase; fans then enter the phrase on the event's Facebook page to be entered. Or something as simple as liking the Facebook page, or following the event on Twitter; every fan as of a specified date is entered to win.

One of the most popular contests held prior to the World Junior A Challenge had fans posting photos of themselves in their best and brightest Team Canada outfits on the WJAC Facebook page in order to win FanZone tickets.

“We want to get hockey fans of every age out to the events and taking part in what we’ve got going on,” says Dean McIntosh, Hockey Canada’s director of marketing services and events. “We think that by going to various local groups we can accomplish just that, and give not only the players on the ice, but the other fans in the arena an experience they’ll never forget.”

Groups that range from high school and university students to the local junior team and minor hockey association could be involved – maybe they’re not the ones in the FanZone when the puck drops, but they can help spread the word to all corners of the community.

It’s one of the basic goals for any host committee – to give the players the best experience they can by filling the seats with the loudest and most passionate hockey fans they can find. And with the FanZone, it should have that covered.

After years of using third-party companies to sell tickets for its national and international events, Hockey Canada is entering the ticketing business, starting with a pair of domestic events in spring 2011.

In partnership with gettix.net, Hockey Canada uses a state-of-the-art ticketing system that allows it to create unique specifications for each individual host committee and tournament – from the National Women’s Under-18 Championship to the IIHF World Junior Championship.

By selling tickets itself, Hockey Canada has the ability to control all aspects of sales, including special offers, ongoing promotions and email marketing and distribution programs.

In addition, the new system gives Hockey Canada the option of packaging tickets with merchandise, concessions, parking, etc. – things that were not always possible with third-party ticket providers in the past.

“I think it’s a tremendous step for us to take when it comes to the marketing and servicing of our events,” says Scott Farley, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of marketing services and events. “We have had terrific relationships with third-party companies through the years, but we felt we were in a position where we were able to take on the ticketing for our events.”

Beginning with the 2011 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in London, Ont., and the 2011 Esso Cup in St. Albert, Alta., fans are able to log on to hockeycanada.ca/tickets and purchase tickets. Hockey Canada’s plan is to expand to all of its events in future seasons.

With that expansion will come a growing list of customers, who will undoubtedly come from all corners of the country. In the 2011-12 season alone, Hockey Canada will hold national and international events in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.

The coast-to-coast reach of Hockey Canada’s events will help create a wide-ranging database of ticket buyers, giving Hockey Canada the ability to go back to those customers when events return to their area, or target them for certain events (ie. Junior A fans for the World Junior A Challenge and/or RBC Cup).

As Hockey Canada and its events continue to grow, as evidenced by larger crowds in arenas and more visits to hockeycanada.ca, it becomes more important to reach as many hockey-mad Canadians as possible, and stay connected to them.

By taking over ticketing, Hockey Canada feels like it is taking a big step in the right direction.