WJHC is pretty big in Sweden and it seem to keep growing. I'm not sure if it's as big as the men's world championship but it's not far off and the media hype and chatter around this tournament is much more lively and energetic than WHC which is just same old same old where the country just watches with one eye closed until the medal round start. 6 years ago Svt only broadcasted Sweden's games on the web and on a throwaway channel called Svt24. Today it's getting the prime time spot and big competitors like Tv3, the main channel in the Viasat group who get all the big sport events now air big match-ups not featuring Sweden as well as Sweden-Switzerland earlier today. It feels new, more fresh since we're not used to watch kids compete and the Canadian interest helps as well. WJHC is getting to be a staple of the holiday season, pretty much like how it is in Canada, but naturally with less hype. It's definitely a noticable event here. You gotta remember that this tournament are more often played in North America and many games are in the middle of the night, so getting the kind of ratings this tournament has gotten lately it pretty damn good.
