St. Louis Finalist to Host 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships
USA Hockey announced today that St. Louis is one of the three finalists to host the 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The St. Louis bid, led by Blues CEO and President Chris Zimmerman and former Blues great Brett Hull, will go up against Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York for the honor.
The St. Louis bid is structured around the Scottrade Center downtown, as well as the 9,600-seat Family Center in St. Charles, Missouri. None of the three candidate cities are strangers to hosting major hockey events; St. Louis in particular hosted the 2007 Men’s Frozen Four and will host the 2017 Women’s edition of that tournament. The 2007 Frozen Four had the highest attendance of any in history. Buffalo has hosted the IIHF World Junior Championships before, having hosted in 2011. In that tournament, the majority of the games were at First Niagara Center.
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Getting the right to host the tournament would be both boon and vindication to the St. Louis area. The tournament would bring U-20 stars from 10 nations to the city and according to Zimmerman would “have the ability to touch our city and region at a level we really haven’t done since the 1904 Olympics.” In 2011, the tournament brought an estimated $5 million economic impact to the city of Buffalo.
St. Louis has also been a hotbed for American youth hockey in recent years. Ten area natives are currently on NHL rosters, and St. Louisians have represented the United States in international competition, including Jincy Dunne, who scored in the gold medal game at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships.
The United States has hosted the tournament six times, including in Anchorage in 1989 and in Boston in 1996.