An hour and 45 minutes.

That's how long it took on Saturday for Whitehorse hockey fans to gobble up the 1,000 tickets available for the Western Hockey League regular season game between the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers coming to Takhini Arena on Feb. 12 for Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.

Doors opened at Sport Yukon at 11 a.m.

Before 1 p.m., the tickets were sold out, said George Arcand, vice-chair of the local organizing committee (LOC) for Hockey Day in Canada.

"I wasn't sure it'd go quite that good,” he said. "It's gone smooth, it's gone quickly and efficiently.”

The tickets were priced $30 a piece with a limit of two tickets per person.

At its longest, the line up stretched for more than a block.

Within the first hour, the line had dwindled to almost no one.

"Compared to yesterday (Friday), at 26 below, this is fantastic. It's made it far easier than it would have been,” Arcand said. "I don't think it would have changed the line up, but it would have been a little more unpleasant for everybody, so it's a bonus.”

The capacity for Takhini Arena is 1,500 seats, leaving 500 tickets still up for grabs.

Arcand said the LOC will stretch the remaining tickets as far as they can go.

"Obviously the arena's not big enough for the demand,” he said, adding that in early January there will be another ticket sale aimed at giving access to Yukoners outside the capital.

"We need to bring the tickets to them a little bit better, on a phone bank idea or something like that, so we're trying to figure that out. That's a work in progress at the moment, but our commitment is that we will be able to give the communities access as well as Whitehorse.”

The LOC is also looking into selling some of those tickets within Whitehorse, he added.

"We've made an effort to sell them to the people of Whitehorse so we need to make an effort to sell them to the outside communities too.”

On Saturday, fans on line and those who had recently purchased their tickets agreed on a few things.

Whitehorse had not been privy to this kind of high-caliber hockey. Exposing young hockey players to that caliber will be good for the sport in the Yukon. Waiting in line for tickets wasn't as painful as they thought it would be.

First-year Bantam Mustang Alex Hanson had been waiting in line for more than an hour.

"I think it'll be beneficial for sure, because it's attracting a bit of attention from other places in Canada,” Hanson said of its impact on the hockey community.

"I think as it gets closer we'll start talking about it a lot more, because there's going to be a lot of hype about it.”

Dale Cebuliak had been waiting in line for just 30 minutes.

"We don't get to see hockey at this caliber in Whitehorse very often,” he said.

"I've been here for 15 years and this will be the first game I've gotten to see up here at this caliber of hockey.”

Cebuliak added that Yukon hockey will likely get a boost of inspiration following the game.

"To see a big crowd like that, cheering for their team, I think that'll be a lot of motivation for kids to continue with hockey.”

Don Fedus agreed.

"It's the best quality hockey we'll see up here in a few years,” Fedus said.

"It's just exciting. It'll be great for the kids to go to the game to see high-quality players.”

Cebuliak added that waiting in line wasn't so bad either.

"I did think it was going to be a lot longer. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stand in line or not. The line actually moved quite well, I was impressed,” Cebuliak said.

Hauke Kruse bought tickets with his son Logan after his atom hockey game.

"I thought the wait would be longer. I thought the tickets might be sold out, so it's fantastic – much better than Disneyland,” Hauke said.

Mike Burke could muster only a few simple words after buying his tickets.

"I love hockey,” Burke said.

"It saves on a plane ticket going down south to watch it.”

Also on sale at Sport Yukon was Hockey Day in Canada merchandise, which will be on sale from now through to February, Arcand pointed out.

"This will be part of a process to pay for Hockey Day in Canada, just as the tickets are,” Arcand said, noting that Hockey Day in Canada has a budget of more than $400,000.

"So we need to make sure that's paid for.”

Scoitabank Hockey Day in Canada activities are expected to run from Feb. 8 Feb. 12, 2011 and will include such events as the WHL game, hockey clinics, shinny games, Stanley and Memorial Cup visits and Alumni games.