USA Hockey today named Chicago, Illinois; Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri; and Tampa, Florida, as finalist cities in contention to host the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
The annual championship, which features 10 nations and the future stars of the NHL, is conducted in late December/early January each year. It includes the best male players in the world under the age of 20. All total, 31 games are played in the championship over a two-and-a-half week stretch with worldwide television coverage, including the NHL Network in the United States.
“We had interest of varying levels from more than a dozen entities,” said Mike Bertsch, assistant executive director of marketing, communications and events for USA Hockey.