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Bids to host World Juniors

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

Hockey Canada received letters of intent to bid from eleven Canadian cities or groups to host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship which will run from December 2005 through early January 2006. In order to be considered to host the prestigious championship, groups had to file a letter of intent along with a $7,500 deposit to Hockey Canada by December 2, 2003 at 4:00pm MT. The following locations that have submitted a letter and the fee to bid for the 2006 event are: Edmonton, AB Halifax, NS Hamilton, ON London/Kitchener, ON Winnipeg, MB Montreal, QC Ottawa, ON Quebec City, QC Saskatoon, SK Toronto, ON Vancouver, BC The next step in the process is a conference call on December 15th with all bid applicants and the site selection committee, which is comprised of four people: Bob Nicholson (Hockey Canada President), Allan Matthews (Chair of the Board for Hockey Canada), David Branch (President of the Canadian Hockey League), and Scott Smith (Hockey Canada's Vice President Business Operations). All eleven groups must submit their formal bid documents to Hockey Canada no later than January 5, 2004 at 4pm MT. The site selection committee will then conduct an independent review of all the bid documents received, and on January 9, 2004 a conference call will be held whereby the committee will narrow down the 11 applicants to five finalists. Each of the 'final five' will give a one hour in-person presentation in Calgary, AB to the site selection committee, on January 18, 2004. The final decision of Canada's recommended site to host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship will be announced by Hockey Canada no later than January 30th, 2004. The bid must then get the final approval of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) at its May, 2004 meetings. "The fact that we have so many interested cities that want to host the World Junior Hockey Championship shows the passion Canadians have for Junior hockey," said Scott Smith, Hockey Canada's Vice President Business Operations. "With the recent success of hosting the 2003 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, combined with the great memories from other events that Canadian cities and communities have hosted in the past, there are plenty of qualified cities who are eager to host the 2006 World Juniors." Canada has hosted the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship six times: 2003 (Halifax, NS), 1999 (Winnipeg, MB), 1995 (Red Deer, AB), 1991 (Saskatoon, SK), 1986 (Hamilton, ON), and 1978 (Montreal, QC). The 2004 event will be held in Hameenlinna, Finland from December 26-January 5, 2004, and Grand Forks, North Dakota will host it in 2005. For further information on the World Junior Hockey Championships and Hockey Canada high performance and development programs, visit Hockey Canada's official web site at www.hockeycanada.ca.

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