Tampa Bay boosts hockey cred with 2018 World Juniors bid
Participants of the 2018 World Junior Championships rejoice. You may not have to go to some sort of frozen tundra in Europe or on the US/Canada border to defend national pride!
According to a report in the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa has put in a bid to host the World Junior Championships for that year.
The area is no stranger to big hockey events, preparing for its second Frozen Four this coming April. The Tampa Bay Lightning have also taken part in two Stanley Cup Finals since the team’s inception in the 1992-93 season.
Said the Times:
The host city will be decided by the end of this year, says USA Hockey's Dave Fischer, who has been "very impressed" with Tampa from its atmospheres at the Frozen Four and Stanley Cup playoffs.
"Tampa is very formidable in the conversation," Fischer, the senior director of communications, told the Times. "The (Lightning) owner (Jeff Vinik) and sports commission is aggressive. We'll see where it winds up."
Generally the World Juniors are held in some sort of traditional hockey market. Mostly the location has some connection to junior hockey or high-level hockey for youths. And normally the spots are … wintry for the tournament, which is held around Christmas and the new year.
Most recent locations have been Toronto/Montreal (2015), Malmo, Sweden (2014), Ufa (2013), Calgary/Edmonton (2012) and Buffalo/Lewiston (2011).
Tampa has shown it’s a hockey town, even if super fan Hulk Hogan totally botched Jon Cooper’s name that one time. This would be another element to show how far the city has come.
Tampa averaged 18,823 in attendance last season, good for ninth in the NHL. I would love to walk around downtown Tampa for this event asking citizens if they could find Swift Current on a map. The area isn't exactly close to a Major Junior hockey team.
Other location possibilities per the story include: Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Arizona. Ack, where would they play if Arizona won the bidding process?
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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