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USA Hockey announced Friday that the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship will be held in the Twin Cities.
The elite tournament, which selects the top 10 national teams for players aged 20 and under, will be held for the 50th time.
The contest will begin on December 26, 2025 and end in 10 days. It includes 29 games at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and 3M Arena in Mariucci on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.
“We are truly honored to have been selected,” Wendy Blackshaw, president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events, said in a news release issued early Friday morning. “We are excited to welcome the world to the Twin Cities and introduce our players at this event, many of whom will go on to become stars in the NHL. Our goal is very simple: To host the best World Juniors ever held in the United States.”
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“We would like to thank USA Hockey and the Minnesota organizers,” International Ice Hockey Federation President Luc Tardif said in an official statement. “Minnesota is rich in hockey history and would be the perfect location to host his 50th anniversary of this great championship.”
Minnesota Sports and Events partnered with the Minnesota Wild, University of Minnesota and Xcel Energy Center to host the tournament.
Link Live reported that Seattle is another finalist to host the 2026 Games.
The 2024 tournament is currently being held in Sweden, with the hosts scheduled to play the United States for the title on Friday.
The tournament was last held in the United States in 2018 in Buffalo, New York, in 2005 in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls, and previously in 1982, the tournament was held in the Twin Cities.
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