CALGARY – The 2012 IIHF World U20 Championship host committee, in partnership with Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League, announced Thursday that entries for the priority draw for ticket packages for the 2012 IIHF World U20 Championship, December 26, 2011 to January 5, 2012 in Calgary and Edmonton, totaled 186,781.

Registration for the priority draw closed at noon MT Thursday after being extended by 12 hours following extremely heavy traffic loads on Wednesday evening that slowed the registration process. The random draw will be held as planned today, and hockey fans selected through the priority draw will be notified early next week via e-mail for the opportunity to purchase ticket packages in Calgary or Edmonton.

More than 17,000 ticket packages, which includes approximately 275,000 tickets, will be made available to those chosen through the priority draw.

“The response from hockey fans to the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship priority draw exceeded all expectations,” said Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada president/CEO. “The passion and demand for World Junior tickets shown by Canadians continues to be off the charts. We can’t wait for Team Canada to take to the ice in Alberta next December.”

The priority draw was the only chance for fans to purchase seats for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship. Over 225,000 tickets, or approximately 50 per cent of all seats, had previously been purchased by season ticket holders of the Calgary Hitmen, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oil Kings and Edmonton Oilers.

This draw is for the purchase of ticket packages in Edmonton or Calgary. The Calgary event package is 21 games and includes the gold medal game, bronze medal game, semi-finals, quarterfinals and 10 preliminary round games, beginning at $399. The Edmonton event package is 10 games and includes four guaranteed preliminary round games featuring Canada’s National Junior Team, beginning at $320.

Ticket demand was expected to be extremely high for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, and the priority draw was implemented to provide fans the fairest access to ticket packages in both cities.