An open letter to Hockey Canada about the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Dear Hockey Canada,

Congratulations are in order. You've somehow managed to screw up the World Juniors, an event that used to grab Canadians by the hearts.

Now it simply tries to grab them by the wallets.

And we've had enough. We're not buying it anymore.

We used to think you were on our side. You know, the side of the average Canadian.

It's average Canadians, after all, who turned the World Juniors into the marquee event it's become. By painting their faces, draping themselves in the flag, plunking their hard-earned money down and screaming their lungs out for their country's kids.

They'd show up in places like Red Deer and Saskatoon, Halifax and Sydney, Winnipeg and Brandon, like a hockey pilgrimage.

They'd even go across the line if the tournament was anywhere near the Canadian border, filling up arenas where Americans couldn't be bothered.

They made the event a spectacle, and you noticed.

Then you began to take them for granted.

You noticed you could make a lot of money off their passion. So you began to turn what had been a party for the every-man in a toque and mitts into an event for the well-heeled.

You traded in the loyalty and passion of the average Canadian, by demanding more and more for our event.

You waved that cash at the IIHF until they agreed to let you host it very two years.

Then you decided the tournament was not only too big for the communities where the game has its roots, junior hockey communities like Red Deer and Brandon, it was too big, even, for places like Saskatoon, Regina, Halifax and Winnipeg.

You turned your back on the very people who made you what you are.

We were at the World Juniors in Winnipeg, in 1999, when the roof nearly came off the old Winnipeg Arena for the Canada-Russia final.

We were at games in Brandon, Selkirk, Morden, Teulon and Portage la Prairie, where the communities came out in droves to welcome the Finns and Swedes, the Russians and Czechs, the Americans and those loveable Slovakians.

We guaranteed a record $1-million profit for you, and brought in $1.7 million. That opened your eyes.

You've been demanding more and more, ever since. These days you don't even listen if the guarantee isn't in the double digits.

We warned you, Hockey Canada, in this very space nine years ago, that perhaps you were getting a little too big for your britches. That it looked like you were letting greed override everything else.

A tournament on steroids, we called it at the time.

One of your own former executives, a chap named Dennis McDonald, expressed concern, too.

At the time, Vancouver was coming off a nearly $9-million bonanza in '06, and Ottawa had landed the '08 event by guaranteeing $12.5 million.

Asked if the World Juniors had become a cash grab, McDonald's next words seem prophetic now.

SSee where it goes from there,” McDonald said. “If it went to Toronto and Montreal after that, I would say you're probably right."

Were we ever.

You tossed Saskatoon and Regina a bone in 2010, but only because they matched Ottawa's $12.5-million guarantee.

There were empty seats in Saskatchewan, caused by the ridiculous ticket prices needed to fulfil the bid, but you ignored them.

Ever since then, you've gone where the biggest payday is: Calgary and Edmonton, where the guarantee hit $18 million, then Toronto and Montreal -- not once, but twice in a row.

You didn't even bother taking bids for these last two tournaments, knowing full well nobody could compete. You just went straight for the cash.

Next time, you'll be in Vancouver and Victoria. Again.

Bigger and bigger.

But not better.

You're like the body-builder who doesn't even look human anymore. People are turning away.

A funny thing happened on the way to the bank in Toronto and Montreal. Unsold tickets. Thousands of them.

You didn't listen the first time.

But this year you were embarrassed by a seat of empty seats, in both cities.

A half-empty arena for a medal-round game involving Canada? A Canadian semi-final with a few thousand unsold tickets?

That's unheard of. At least it was before you got greedy, and started charging ticket prices equal to the NHL.

But it's exactly what you deserve.

Lucky for you, Canada and the U.S. made the gold-medal game, and you weren't left with thousands of empty seats for the finale.

But don't let that fool you.

The egg on your face is there to stay.

Because you turned your back on us.

I reached McDonald again on Thursday, and he doesn't disagree.

“It was an event for the people,” is how he put it. “And it may have gone beyond that this year.”

McDonald was being kind. It's been out of reach of the people for a while now.

The people stand and cheer for the Maple Leaf.

You stand for the almighty dollar.

The World Junior isn't worth what you think it is, Hockey Canada.

It's time you gave it back to us.

TOURNAMENT ON STEROIDS

World Junior$ by the Number$

1999, Winnipeg: $1-million bid guarantee, $1.7-million profit

2003, Halifax: $3.6-million profit

2006, Vancouver/Kamloops/Kelowna: $5.2-million guarantee, $9-million profit

2009, Ottawa: $12.5-million guarantee, $15-million profit

2010, Saskatoon/Regina: $12.5-million guarantee, $15-million profit

2012, Calgary/Edmonton: $18-million guarantee, $22-million profit

2015/2017, Toronto/Montreal: $20-million-plus profits

pfriesen@postmedia.com

Twitter: @friesensunmedia