World juniors provide a $50 million boost to Ottawa's economy over the holidays

The final horn sounded on the 2025 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa Sunday night, after the 11-day tournament provided a boost to Ottawa's economy.

The tournament, which began Boxing Day, featured 10 countries that sent their best hockey players under the age of 20 to compete for a gold medal.

The United States beat Finland 4-3 in overtime Sunday night at Canadian Tire Centre to win the gold medal. Czechia beat Sweden in a shootout to win the bronze medal.

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Despite a disappointing outcome for Canada, who lost to Czechia in Thursday night's quarterfinal, the world juniors has been a success for the city of Ottawa, according to officials.

"Although we did not get the result we wanted for Team Canada, we can definitely say it was a Team Ottawa win," said Ottawa Tourism's director of public affairs Jérôme Miousse.

 "From an economic perspective, we're looking at probably about $50 million."

Thousands of hockey fans traveled to Ottawa to see the tournament and Miousse says it gave the city's tourism industry a significant boost.

"It was definitely a great time for Ottawa especially in the holidays, a period that is usually a little bit slower," he said.

The Canadian Tire Centre has been the central venue for the tournament, hosting all of Team Canada's games and most medal round games.

"This tournament, we've proven that Ottawa is the perfect place to host hockey events," Miousse adds.

Ahead of the bronze medal game, Ottawa Senators president and CEO Cyril Leeder told CTV News Ottawa nearly 350,000 people visited the Canadian Tire Centre in the 10 days of the tournament.

"It's been a wonderful event for us to host," he said.

The Senators have opened their arms to the World Junior Hockey Championship before, hosting the tournament in 2009.

"It's one of the best hockey events in the world, so getting the opportunity to host it is a special thing, not only for our organization, but for our city," Leeder said.

"The fans and the people of this community and the surrounding communities have really responded to the event and really made it what it is."

Leeder credits the hundreds of staff and volunteers for making the tournament happen so seamlessly. Typically used to working a just few games a week, staff have been working double headers for a week and a half.

"Something a little bit different for our team, turning the building over quite quickly," Leeder said.

"They are the heroes of this event." 

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle