USA Hockey will make a major announcement in Buffalo tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET. Watch live on the @NHLNetwork. https://t.co/N3EbHUX7X2
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) December 3, 2015
Get ready, Buffalo.
The hockey world is returning to Hockey Heaven.
Literally. The. Hockey. World.
At a Friday 3pm presser at Ralph Wilson Stadium, USA Hockey will announce that Buffalo has one again been chosen as be the host site for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship tournament.
The presser will take place on the 18 yard line of the home of the Terry and Kim Pegula NFL Buffalo Bills.
Are we looking at an outdoor version of the WJCs? Or possible another NHL Winter Classic?
Buffalo hosted the first ever NHL Winter Classic outdoor game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008.
Buffalo's proposal has beaten out Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
Buffalo hosted to the 2011 WJCS at First Niagara Center and Niagara University's Dwyer Arena in Lewiaton, NY.
In 2011, Team Russia stunned Team Canada with an improbable 5 goal third period to win WJC gold. I was in the building for the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championship tournament and I can't remember a more dramatic, and entertaining live event that I've ever attended.
Much has changed for the better in Buffalo since 2011.
The Sabres took the NHL Combine to the next level when they hosted the 2015 draft combine at the spectacular new hockey-hotel-retail HARBORCenter complex which is connected to the Sabres' arena.
Gone are the days that the best NHL draft eligible prospects get poked and prodded in a dingy hotel ball room in Toronto.
The Pegulas are game changers. They shifted the paradigm on the NHL Combine by providing state of the art testing facilities along with 5 star hospitality. The Pegulas possess the Midas Touch in that everything they touch turns to gold.
WJC Gold for Team USA in 2018?
Buffalo will also host the 2016 NHL Combine and the NHL Entry Draft.
Helsinki, Finland will host the 2016 WJCs.
Montreal-Toronto will host the 2017 WJCs tourney.
Much more to come!