St. Louis was named Tuesday as one of the three finalists to host the 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships.
Buffalo and Pittsburgh are the other cities in contention. Chicago and Tampa, which had been under consideration, are out. The event has already been awarded to USA Hockey, which is choosing the site.
The event annually brings together the best players, under the age of 20, in the sport and has proved to be wildly popular in Canada, so popular that the event is held there every other year and then rotates between Europe and the United States in other years. This year’s tournament will be held in Helsinki, Finland; the next year, the tournament will be in Montreal and Toronto.
The popularity of the event in Canada could work to the benefit of Buffalo because of its proximity to the Canadian border. Buffalo held the event in 2011 and drew crowds of more than 12,000 for matches involving the United States and Canada.
A decision is expected by the end of the year.
“I’m thrilled that we continue to be in consideration,” said Blues president and CEO Chris Zimmerman. “This is a big, big deal for the Blues, for Scottrade Center, for the community. It’s very exciting to continue. It’s a massive opportunity.
“You’d have people here from all over the world, walking around with flags draped over their shoulders from Sweden, the Czech Republic. It’s as good as it gets short of getting to do the Olympics, which I don’t think we’re ready for.”
Games would be played at Scottrade Center and Family Arena. The event is held in late December and early January. Ten nations take part and 31 games are played over 2½ weeks.
The event has been held in the United States five times, most recently in Buffalo. It was held in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 1982, Anchorage, Alaska, in 1989, Boston in 1996 and Grand Forks, N.D. in 2005.
Next up is the site visit by USA Hockey, which will look at venues, practice facilities and hotels teams would stay at.
“It is a step in the journey,” Zimmerman said. “There are two other really good markets and they have their story. We look forward to the next set of meetings where we can showcase St. Louis and all we have to say about what we can do as host.”
If St. Louis is chosen, it would be the southernmost place to get the event.
“I’ve been here 14 months,” Zimmerman said, “but I’ve been able to see how this community and this organization care about what we do. We’ve got other people, other partners like (equipment company) Total Hockey. I guess I felt from the start we have a great story to tell. We can put on a fantastic event and really energize the community.”
