from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,

At every game at the world junior hockey championship — like any hockey game in an NHL city’s arena — the cameras show fans on the big over-ice screen, trying to generate enthusiasm, during stoppages in play.

But here in Rogers Place, where crowd sizes were sometimes better measured in the hundreds rather than the thousands — the 18,500-seat arena seems cavernous — it was often the same fans, over and over again.

And with massive drapes cutting off upper levels, even games involving Canada couldn’t sell out the lower bowl.

The lack of interest in the world junior hockey championship — once the jewel of TSN’s hockey coverage and a cash-cow for Hockey Canada — was almost painful to witness.

There are no shortage of reasons why. This after all is summer, and the world juniors — and hockey itself — is a winter sport. This is Edmonton, where the summers are short, the weather was perfect and folks would rather be outside at the Fringe Festival rather than inside a cold rink. There’s also the overpriced tickets, more than $100 a game.

But there’s another reason, one that has cast a long shadow: Hockey Canada’s mishandling of an alleged sex-assault case involving its 2018 world junior team in London, Ont. Then came revelations of allegations of similar behaviour by its 2003 team in Halifax.

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