Kitchener, London’s joint bid to host World Juniors falls short

The 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship will not be coming to Kitchener and London.

The two cities had submitted a joint bid to host the annual tournament.

But on Thursday afternoon, Hockey Canada announced Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick have been awarded the tournament for next year.

“We appreciate the hard work and efforts put forth by the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and we strongly believe in the plans they have in place to host a successful event in Halifax and Moncton. We know the work of the host committees and volunteers will leave a lasting impression on each community, the competing teams and the fans who will travel to experience this best-on-best competition.” Scott Smith, Hockey Canada president and COO, said in a news release.

The tournament will begin on Boxing Day and wrap up on January 5, 2023.

An official with Explore Waterloo Region said work that went into the Kitchener-London bid was substantial.

“The City of London was an incredible partner to work with, and we genuinely believe that our two extremely strong hockey communities can and should host the World Juniors in the future. Congratulations to Halifax and Moncton on their successful bids, and Hockey Canada on bringing the event to Canada again in 2023.” said, Allister Scorgie, director of sports hosting.

The 2022 World Junior tournament has yet to be completed. It was held earlier this year in Alberta, but postponed due to COVID-19 and will restart in August.

Russia was stripped of the rights to host the 2023 event by the International Ice Hockey Federation due to the invasion of Ukraine.