The 2025-26 IIHF World Junior Championship is going to be played in Minnesota. On Friday, USA Hockey announced that the Twin Cities of Minnesota will host the 2025-26 edition of the tournament.
It will be the 50th edition of the IIHF World Junior Championship, and Minneapolis and St. Paul last hosted the tournament in 1981-82.
“We’re excited to bring this 50th anniversary edition of the World Juniors to the state of hockey,” USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher said in a press release. “We know the teams and fans are in for a first-class experience at world-class venues. I’d also like to publicly thank the other finalists for the significant time they spent in putting together proposals. In the end, it was an extremely difficult decision.”
All 29 games of the 10-day tournament are slated to be played at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, which is home to the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, while games will also be played at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis. 3M Arena is home to the University of Minnesota hockey team.
The IIHF World Junior Championship has only been hosted by the United States six times in the past — Anchorage, Alaska, in 1989, Boston in 1996, Grand Forks, N.D. in 2005, and Buffalo, N.Y. in both 2011 and 2018.
The announcement was unveiled on the same day that the United States is taking on Sweden in the gold-medal game for the Under-20 annual tournament. This year’s tournament is being held in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The 2024-25 installment of the IIHF World Junior Championship is scheduled to be played in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
KVSP