Five U.S. cities still in contention for hosting 2018 World Juniors; Detroit not on the list

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By @MichaelCaples –

USA Hockey announced today the five cities that are finalists in contention for hosting the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, but Detroit wasn’t one of them.

USA Today’s Kevin Allen (A Michigan native and resident) had reported in February that Detroit was one possible location for the prestigious international tournament, but per today’s announcement, Hockeytown is not in the running.

Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa are under final consideration by USA Hockey.

“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 in a release. “In the end, we’re extremely pleased with the group of finalists. The time and effort each put into the materials that were submitted is impressive and we look forward to continued conversations with each of the finalists.”

USA Hockey will make their selection by the end of the year.

The IIHF World Junior Championship has been officially hosted by the IIHF since 1977. The U.S. has hosted five times – 1982 (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota), 1989 (Anchorage, Alaska), 1996 (Boston), 2005 (Grand Forks, North Dakota/Thief River Falls, Minnesota) and 2011 (Buffalo/Niagara, New York). The 2016 edition will take place in Helsinki, Finland, while the 2017 tournament will be played in Toronto and Montreal.