Sports stats



WHL Victoria Royals

Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre Hosts Another World Class Event and Economic Impact Felt Around Island

January 2, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Victoria Royals News Release


Victoria, BC - The World Junior Hockey Championships has officially wrapped up the Victoria portion of their event with today's two quarterfinal games. The GSL Group (developer and operator of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre) would like to thank Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation for choosing Victoria to co-host this prestigious event.

"Hockey Canada is thrilled with the response and support from the city of Victoria." said Tom Renney, CEO of Hockey Canada. "The people have really embraced the World Juniors here, and we'd like to thank the GSL group for their part in the success of this event."

Like the hundreds of events held at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre over the 13-years of its existence, the World Junior Hockey Championship has provided a considerable economic impact for businesses within Victoria and on Vancouver Island. The Greater Victoria Sports Tourism Commission has reported that the event will inject up to $10 million dollars locally.

"When GSL Group originally thought about developing and operating a multi-purpose arena in Victoria" GSL Group President and CEO Graham Lee said, "we knew that the presence of a first class building in a world class city, such as Victoria, would provide the city the opportunity to host events of this magnitude.

"Our membership in the Western Hockey League through the ownership of the Victoria Royals allowed the city of Victoria to be a viable host for the 2019 World Junior Championships. Further, the Royals provided their dressing room, were unable to play their traditional post-Christmas games, condensed their home schedule and went for lengthy road trips both before and after Christmas to do their part in making the World Juniors a success. Without the venue and the team, events such as this would go to other municipalities. The positive impact from these events, concerts, Royals games and the multitude of other users of the arena has turned the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre into a significant economic generator for the City."

The World Junior Hockey Championships was held over 17 days at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and over that span will have:

hosted over 90,000 hockey fans

who will have watched 2,500 minutes of world class hockey

having consumed over 40,000 hot dogs, 70,000 beers and 500,000 ounces of popcorn

employing various staff for over 30,000 hours of work

will have answered over 14,000 questions about the city of Victoria and the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

"The World Juniors was another successful event for our venue and for the people of Victoria," GSL Sports and Entertainment President Dave Dakers said. "It will now become a part of an impressive list of world class events we have hosted at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre including the Ford World Curling Championships (2005 & 2013), Skate Canada International (2006), Scotties Tournament of Hearts (2009), Canada and USA Women's Hockey (2009), Subway Super Series (2009 & 2012), Canadian World Figure Skating Championships (2010), and the David Foster Foundation 25th Anniversary Miracle Event (2012). We look forward to being the host venue for many future events that will be a boon for our facility and for the city of Victoria."

Check out the Victoria Royals Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central