EDMONTON -- For Edmonton's Fane Henderson, travelling to the World Juniors has become a bit of a family routine.
"I'd be watching the tournament on TV anyway and it's more fun to be at games lives," he said.
Henderson will be attending his third World Juniors this year, adding Ostrava to prior trips to Helsinki in 2016 and Vancouver last year, both with his young son.
"It seems unlikely I would ever visit Ostrava if not for them hosting the tournament," he said.
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This year, "it's definitely his sister's turn" so he's bringing his 5-year-old daughter to the Czech Republic for two weeks of sightseeing and hockey.
"I won't be surprised if she falls asleep at some of the games, but I think she'll have fun," he said.
Henderson is one of close to 300 travelling fans who forego a Canadian Christmas to make the more than 7,000 kilometre trek to celebrate the holidays along with Canada's favourite hockey tradition.
"It's probably as close to a best-on-best tournament the hockey world has to offer outside of the NHL playoffs."
HUNDREDS MAKE THE TRIP
The pitch to potential travellers is a simple one: visit a new country, have a holiday experience abroad and watch the same hockey event in person that millions back home are watching on TV.
"You're getting a European holiday and the chance to see the World Juniors," said Paul Almeida with Azorcan Global Tours.
Almeida first organized the trip for the 2008 tournament in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic. Visits to Malmo, Sweden (2014) and Helsinki, Finland (2016) followed as the trip became increasingly popular.
"People just love supporting Team Canada," said Almeida who says this year's trip has fans from every province and territory save for Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.
They'll be at every Team Canada game this tournament, embracing their role as the visiting fans, especially on New Year's Eve when the Canadians take on the host Czech team.
"When Canada plays the Czech Republic, that stadium is going to be rocking."
JUNIOR HOCKEY
While the trip has become a tradition in itself for some, others will be making it for the first time.
Gary and Lynda Cook started thinking are self-described junior hockey fanatics who will be taking in their first in-person World Juniors this year.
"We're not really keen on the NHL. We don't watch it on TV. But the WHL, we're really hooked on," said Lynda Cook.
"They don't earn the bucks like the NHL players do. They're doing it for the love of the sport."
The Cooks says they're making a European vacation out of their trip this year after missing out on the tournament when it last came to Alberta in 2012
"It was kind of strange, we lived there but we couldn’t get the tickets. We have to go halfway around the world to get tickets to the World Juniors," she said.
She's looking forward to being part of the travelling Team Canada cheer section.
"It just sounds incredibly exciting," she said. "You gotta do it once. Life is too short."
The tournament returns to Alberta next year, with games in Edmonton and Red Deer, but the Cooks says they'd rather take in the event as visiting fans, and are already looking ahead to the 2023 World Juniors in Novosibirsk, Russia.
"Every year it's an exciting tournament. I just love it."
