BY TERRY JONES ,EDMONTON SUN HELSINKI - Alexandre Burrows was talking about the last time he wore the red maple leaf on his chest representing Canada internationally.
"The crest was almost the same, except it had a ball on it," he said holding out the stylized Hockey Canada logo on the front of his bright yellow don't-hit-me-I'm-coming-back-from-a-concussion jersey as he returned to the ice Tuesday.
It was the 2003 world ball hockey championships in Switzerland, he pointed out.
Asked to describe the difference between the world ball hockey championship and the world ice hockey championship, Burrows deadpanned what may be the line of the tournament.
"There were more fans in the stands."
At ball hockey. In Switzerland.
"In Switzerland, at ball hockey, it was packed. There were a lot of fans."
Burrows sat in the stands with the crowd of only 2,314 Monday watching Canada's 7-2 win over France. And his line of the tournament is fast becoming the story of the tournament.
When Canada plays Switzerland here Wednesday, in world championship ice hockey, it's likely there will be fewer fans here for the game that counts than packed the buildings in Fribourg and Kloten for two pre-tournament games between the two countries. And the environment in the Swiss rinks, particularly in Fribourg, was wonderful.
Here the environment is a heavy blast of public address and dialed up music to cover up the lack of energy. And there's no hiding the sea of empty seats other than the Skoda cars in the stands in the corners.
The first world hockey championships being shared by two nations has had some exceptionally small crowds as fans in Stockholm and Helsinki have refused to pay NHL prices to watch games involving the so called "minnows" even if there's a line-up full of NHL players on the other side of the ice -- in Canada's case, a lineup featuring players who made $74,636,962 this past season.
The 130 Euro prices are about 100 Euros more than what it costs for the same seat for a Elitserien (Swedish Elite League) or a SM-liiga game here in Finland. The average Joe can't afford to come and the television coverage on Canal+ and MTV3 is so massive it is almost 24-7.
The average crowd to watch Italy in Stockholm so far has been 1,955. When you consider Edmonton and Calgary just finished filling two NHL rinks for every game for the world juniors, regardless of the nations involved, offers quite the contrast.
Despite having their most star-studded team at the world championship for a non-lockout year, Canada has averaged only 5,552 for their three games so far against Slovakia, United States and France.
Imagine. Canada. The ninth best draw of the tournament.
They'll pay it to go watch defending world champion Finland here. The Finns have averaged 12,604 in the 13,349-seat Hartwall Arena including the ones you can't see watching the games from behind the darkened windows from a seat in the sauna.
But they'll wait and watch the rest of the counties involved when they play Finland.
Sweden, however, has only averaged 8,655 in the 13,850-seat Globen Arena. The Russians rank as the 12th best draw at 4,828. At least that's closer to a KHL attendance figure.
The tournament average going into games Tuesday was 6,202.
"The people in charge of pricing completely missed the market," said Team Canada G.M. Kevin Lowe.
"I don't believe it affects the player's performance at all.
"Possibly in a lesser opponent situation it might affect them a little. But I really don't think it would change their mindset for preparedness between a lesser hockey nation and the countries we need to beat.
"I haven't heard our players even speak about it."
On one hand you have hockey banners and murals all over town, a very visible celebration of the 200th anniversary of Helsinki becoming the capital of Finland as you walk around town. And the event is massive in the media as players being involved in a minor bar incident becoming big news would suggest.
And then you go to the rink and it's almost empty in the only country other than Canada where hockey is the No. 1 sport. It just seems such a contrast and such a contradiction.
"The Finns won the gold last year and they are a favourite again this year. Clearly they have the hockey on the ice figured out but have failed miserably in identifying something just as important, and that's the fans," said Lowe.
twitter.com/sunterryjones
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca SOURCE:http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/08/ball-hockey-a-bigger-draw-than-worlds IMAGE: Eric Bolte / QMI Agency / Files  ...

The Quebec Ball Hockey Association is proud to announce that the 2012 Eastern Regional  B & C Championships will be moved to Montreal this summer. The dates will stay the same, from July 26 to 29. The games will be played at Howie-Morenz and Martin-Brodeur Arenas. We invite all ball hockey fans to come and watch great ball hockey at his best with teams coming from the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario.

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Wednesday May 16 (Finals)
(2)Scorpions vs Red Lite(3) Game 3
It all came down to this one game. After a long winter season of ball hockey at its highest level both these teams came out prepared as you can possibly get. This game went scoreless for nearly two periods before Red Lite finally got on the board with a goal by N.Vargas-Dias solving goaltender F.Luongo.
 
The second goal of the game however didn’t take long at all as M.Frechette added to the lead just over a minute later. With the score 2-0 in Red Lites favour and two periods completed the very same M.Frechette did what he does best early in the third period and that is to score more goals. He made the score 3-0 in what looked like a secure lead till the Scorpions made things very interesting with two straight goals by M.Orlando and A.Piché reducing the margin by one.
 The Scorpions had no choice to pull out their goalie late in the period for an extra attacker but weren’t able to solve S.Beauchamp who held the fort for Red Lite leading his team to one of so many ball hockey championships. Despite losing the series coach R.Sciortino did an excellent job all season long along with the playoffs giving his club a great opportunity to defeat a legendary club. After so many years of ball hockey success for the Red Lite, lots of credit has to go to the leadership of P.Roy,M.Lebrun and S.Morello for making it all happen once again. On behalf of Hockeballe.com we would like to congratulate Red Lite for winning the Premier division. ...

Monday May 14
(3)Brewers vs Smackdaddys(4) O.T
It seems like nothing can slow him down. Long time ball hockey player L.Dulcetta helped his team to victory on opening night scoring two goals and an assist that included the overtime winner. The Smackdaddys started this match on the right foot taking a 2-0 first period lead before the Brewers rallied with a pair of third period goals by V.DelPercio and C.Moutafis forcing this game into overtime.

(1)Traction T/W vs Les Senateurs(6)
Les Senateurs sent an early message to the league that they will be the team to beat after easily defeating a solid team in Traction T/W. After taking a 1-0 first period lead on a goal by M-A.Martineau ,K.Kuczmarski increased that lead with two second period goals putting his club in front 4-0 after two periods. The Traction T/W did manage to solve goaltender S.Darwiche for the only time in the game early in the third period with a power play goal by Sebastien.Courelles but that was all they managed.

(2)Stealth Assassins vs Venom(5)
After many brilliant seasons of ball hockey, S.Robineault didn’t slow down on opening night with an impressive display of fine talent. His three goals and one assist performance was plenty for Venom as they got the better of the Stealth Assassins.T.Settino along with E.Girouard were also good on this night combining for four points.
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Monday May 14
(10)Wolfpack vs X-Men(1)
This match simply favoured a team that showed up prepared to play on opening night vs an opponent with no change ups. The Wolfpack took advantage of a very short bench especially in the second frame where they managed four goals to take a commanding 6-1 lead after two periods. Captain S.Botsis dominated the score sheet scoring a hat trick and two assists while L.Haouzi did a good job as well with a pair of goals.

(4)Outlaws vs Raging Rhinos(5) S.O
The Raging Rhinos looked like they were on their way to an easy three points up until the Outlaws rallied with three straight third period goals forcing this game into overtime. The sudden death period solved nothing which led to a shootout that saw only one player find the back of the net. M.Piché was that player solving goaltender C.Dawson giving his team the extra point in the standings. Despite losing the game the Outlaws did get good performances by B.Phillips and C.Dawson who scored a pair of goals each.

(3)Wiseguys vs Kennedy Crew(4)
After a scoreless first period the Kennedy Crew took advantage of two power play opportunities with goals by C.Doulis and M.Mavroudis to take a 2-1 second period lead. Both clubs later exchanged a pair of third period goals which was fine for the Kennedy Crew giving them their first win of the season.T.Langiano was in a generous mood with three helpers for the Kennedy Crew while M.DiCriscio did his part with a pair of goals but in a losing cause.


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