2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2010 IIHF World U20 Championship, commonly referred to as the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, is the 2010 edition of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and will be hosted in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. This will be the second time Saskatoon has hosted the tournament, after hosting it in 1991. The medal round, as well as all Canada's preliminary round games, will take place in Saskatoon at the Credit Union Centre. The arena is scheduled to undergo renovations and upgrades before the 2010 tournament, including an increase in capacity.cite web |url=http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=060ea29f-9d0d-4cb0-ab62-246b5c3d6c6d |title=Saskatoon-Regina to get 2010 World Juniors |date=7 July 2008 |publisher=The Leader Post (Regina) |accessdate=2008-07-08] Other games will be played at the Brandt Centre in Regina, which is also due to receive upgrades. [cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2008/07/07/juniors-sask.html?ref=rss |title=Regina, Saskatoon to host 2010 world juniors |date=7 July 2008 |publisher=cbc.ca |accessdate=2008-07-08] In addition, the Saskatchewan bid committee plans to host pre-tournament exhibition games in other towns and cities throughout the province. [cite web |url=http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=82d7e1d7-bab1-443f-bdd8-29942bf12c18 |title=Saskatchewan to host 2010 World Junior Hockey Championship |date=7 July 2008 |publisher=gov.sk.ca |accessdate=2008-07-07 ] The game schedule will not be announced until early 2009.cite web |url=http://www.hockeycanada.ca/5/6/0/3/1/index1.shtml |title=Saskatoon and Regina to host 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship |date=7 July 2008 |publisher=hockeycanada.ca |accessdate=2008-07-07 ]

Other Host Candidates

Initially, Switzerland was chosen to host the tournament, but later withdrew. [cite web |url=http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/story/?id=240282&lid=sublink06&lpos=headlines_main |title=Toronto, Regina-Saskatoon formally bid to stage World Juniors |date=10 June 2008 |publisher=tsn.ca |accessdate=2008-07-07 ]

Three bid groups submitted letters of intent to host the 2010 tournament prior to the February 1, 2008 deadline:cite web |url=http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/53318/la_id/1.htm |title=Six letters of intent to bid received by Hockey Canada from potential hosts for the 2010 and 2012 IIHF World Junior Championships |date=01 February 2008 |publisher=hockeycanada.ca |accessdate=2008-07-07 ]
*Joint bid by Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick;
*Joint bid by Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan; and
*Joint bid by Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba

All three bid groups formally placed their bids before the April 1, 2008 deadline and made their final presentations to the selection committee in Toronto on June 9-June 10, 2008.

On July 7, 2008, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced Saskatoon and Regina have been chosen to host the tournament. This was Saskatchewan's first successful bid in five attempts, after failing to land the 1999, 2003, 2006, and 2009 tournaments.

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