On New Year’s Eve, a sold-out crowd of 18,618 fans packed into Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul for the 2026 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship.

After all, the U.S. was playing as the host nation in the “State of Hockey.” It was also the country’s final group stage game. Sweden eventually beat the U.S. 6-3 and followed up their dominant victory by winning the entire tournament four days later.

The fan turnout for that New Year’s Eve game was exactly what lead, local organizer Minnesota Sports and Events expected each time the U.S. stepped on to the ice.

Hours later though, in the final game of the day, over 11,000 seats became empty in the same arena that had just been sold out and filled with fans’ deafening applause. What was surprising was the fact that Canada was one of the teams playing (versus Finland).

Hockey is one of Canada’s two official sports (also lacrosse), and the northern nation also hosts the World Junior Championship biennially.

During the 2025 tournament, an average of 18,240 fans attended Canada’s five games at the Ottawa Senators’ NHL arena, according to IIHF figures. That was over double the attendance compared to this year’s tournament.

Canada played its group stage games—and its quarterfinal game—at 3M Arena at Mariucci, which has a capacity of roughly 10,000, and averaged just 5,376 fans. At Grand Casino Arena, home of the Minnesota Wild, Canada averaged around 7,250 fans for the two games it played there.

What led to this drop in attendance among Canadian fans?

“There were a lot of things in play,” explains Kathy Ross Pavek, a consultant at Minnesota Sports and Events. The weak U.S./Canada exchange rate being one of them.

Then there’s the geopolitical situation between the two countries. More specifically, the ongoing tariff sanctions each nation has enacted.

Also, Pavek says some Canadian fans waited until after the preliminary rounds were over to attend “medal games.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it was, but we certainly think [these factors] could have had an impact,” she adds.

Across the entire tournament, over 184,000 people attended the World Junior Hockey Championship. About 133,000 went to games at Grand Casino Arena. The other 51,000 made it to 3M Arena at Mariucci, home of the University of Minnesota’s men’s hockey team.

“When you have 29 games over the course of 11 days, and some of the games are being played in our NHL venues, I think it’s easy to say: ‘Oh, it looked like attendance was maybe light for this game or not,’” explains Pavek. “But, when you look over the history of this tournament, coming back to Minnesota for the first time in 40 years, I think we just need to continue to educate Minnesotans on how special this tournament is.”

Minnesota Sports and Events deems the tournament a success aside from the low turnout from Canadian fans.

Pavek says the tourney exceeded an overall attendance goal of 200,000 fans. That total includes people who visited the organizer’s free, outdoor Bold North Breakaway fan festival.

The economic impact of the tournament was nothing to sneeze at. Pavek says it is likely over $75 million. That number includes hotel bookings, purchases made inside the arena, and dining at nearby restaurants.

Canada will host next winter’s IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton. The next opportunity for the U.S. to host is in 2031.

Pavek says Minnesota would certainly love the opportunity to host again “now that we’ve had a taste” of the event.