Chicago-St. Louis in hunt for 2018 World Juniors

There are five US Cities still in the hunt for the 2018 IIHF World U-20 Championship tournament, including a pair of Midwest venues.

The five finalist cities, including both Chicago and St. Louis were named by USA Hockey July 28. Other cities include Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Buffalo. The latter hosted the most recent American-based event in 2011.

A press release issued by usahockey.com quotes Mike Bertsch, assistant executive director of marketing, communications and events for USA Hockey, saying there were a dozen American cities with at least some level of interest and from that, the top five were selected this week.

Bertsch said his group will trim the list once again within the next couple of months and then come up with a final decision by the end of the calendar year.

The World juniors tournament has always been a huge event for many of the other countries and has grown in popularity in the USA as well, in particular with the television coverage provided by the NHL Network and other channels for the most recent events. The tournament traditionally start on the day after Christmas and wrap up in the first few days of the New Year. So, this one will likely begin Dec. 26, 2017.

The World Juniors has previously been held in the USA five times — 1982-Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; 1989-Anchorage, AK; 1996-Boston, MA; 2005-Grand Forks, ND/Thief River Falls, MN and 2011-Buffalo/Niagara, NY.

This winter the event will be played at Helsinki, Finland, returning to a joint effort between Toronto/Montreal in Canada the following season.

Next major junior event in the USA will be the 2016 IIHF World U-18 Junior championship tournament to be held April 14-24 in Grand Forks, ND.