Report: Buffalo Sabres To Host 2018 IIHF World Juniors

USA Hockey is expected to formally announce on Friday that the city of Buffalo and the Buffalo Sabres have been selected to host the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships.

USA Hockey is holding an official press conference on Friday at the 18-yard line of Ralph Wilson Stadium to make the announcement.

Buffalo was announced earlier in the summer as one of three finalists, along with Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Pittsburgh’s bid included the city co-hosting the event along with Erie, PA with games played at Consol Energy Center and Erie Insurance Arena, home of the OHL’s Erie Otters. The two rinks are approximately 127 miles – about two hours’ drive – from one another.

Though the city of Pittsburgh also has two fresh rinks at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, just a short distance from the city, those two rinks combined only hold 1500, thus the decision to expand to Erie, which has hosted the Otters for several years.

St. Louis’ bid included games played at Scottrade Center and others at Family Arena, roughly a 25-minute drive in nearby St. Charles.

This will be the second time Buffalo’s hosted the tournament, after the 2011 tournament was held at First Niagara Center and Dwyer Arena on the campus of Niagara University.

This time around, however, the games will be literally across the street from each other – at First Niagara Center and HARBORCENTER.

Though details won’t be released until the official announcement, it’s likely that the First Niagara Rink at HARBORCENTER would be used as the home of some preliminary round games; the rink there holds about 1800 people with standing room. It’s possible that teams could then use the New Wave Energy Rink, which has a much smaller spectator capacity, for practices.

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Of course, the most interesting component of Friday’s announcement heading in is the fact that it’s at the Ralph, leading many to speculate as to whether or not the 2018 World Juniors could feature an outdoor game at the home stadium of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Further ideas include a New Year’s Eve matchup outdoors, followed by a Buffalo Sabres Winter Classic on 1/1/2018 – exactly 10 years after the Sabres’ last Winter Classic.

We won’t know until Friday’s announcement (or potentially later) if either of those ideas are coming to fruition, but it’s certainly interesting to think about, and holding a press conference at the Ralph as opposed to First Niagara Center seems to indicate that an outdoor game is likely.

Either way, the return of the IIHF World Junior Championships to Buffalo is huge. It’s not only momentous that USA Hockey has reportedly chosen the city to host the event for the second time – and second straight time it’s been on American soil. The event will draw large crowds to the area, draw international attention to the developments of Buffalo (particularly things like HARBORCENTER, which was a parking lot last time around), the developments of Canalside, etc.

The economic impact will also likely be significant, with thousands of players, coaches, media, fans, etc. swirling into Buffalo and utilizing everything from restaurants and bars to hotels, taxi service, and the like. The 2011 tournament drew more than 330,000 fans – including many dedicated, passionate Canadian fans from just across the border – and the economic impact was over $5 million.

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USA Hockey will make the formal announcement on Friday at 3 p.m. It will be broadcast live on NHL Network.