VANCOUVER, BC - Hockey Canada announced on Thursday that the bid from Vancouver, BC was chosen from five final potential groups, and will host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Canada.

The 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will take place from late December, 2005 to early January, 2006 (exact dates tbd), in Vancouver, BC, with satellite centres in Kelowna and Kamloops, BC. The locations and game schedule will be subject to IIHF approval and will be released at a later date.

Bids from London/Kitchener, ON, Ottawa, ON, Quebec City, QC, Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC were the five finalists. Originally, a total of eleven groups had expressed interest in hosting the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship, including six that were formally eliminated from contention on : Edmonton, AB, Halifax, NS, Hamilton, ON, Montreal, QC, Toronto, ON and Winnipeg, MB.

The Vancouver, BC bid was chosen by Hockey Canada's site selection committee, after in-person presentations were made in Calgary on January 18th by the five final groups to Hockey Canada's site selection committee. The site selection committee is comprised of three voting members Bob Nicholson (Hockey Canada President), Allan Matthews (Chair of the Board for Hockey Canada), David Branch (President of the Canadian Hockey League), and Hockey Canada staff resource person Scott Smith (Hockey Canada's Vice President, Business Operations).

" From the very outset of this process, the members of the site selection committee have been extremely impressed with the quality of all of the bids, and I can tell you that the decision to choose the successful group was a very difficult one," said Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson. "After over a week of conference calls and meetings we felt, as a group, that Vancouver had presented the best combination in the areas of team services, business plan and logistics plan. Vancouver has done a tremendous job in securing this event and we know that the host committee and the province of British Columbia will do an outstanding job of hosting the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship."

" The Canadian Hockey League congratulates the City of Vancouver and Province of British Columbia in winning the right to host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship," said CHL President and member of the site selection committee, David Branch. "The popularity of this event, and junior hockey in our country, both continue to grow and we strongly believe that the bid from Vancouver will be writing a new historic chapter in Canadian hockey history come December 2005."

" The City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia are very proud to be selected by Hockey Canada to host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship," said Ron Toigo, Head of the Bid Committee. "The support of junior hockey in our province is strong, and now that the Championship is officially coming to British Columbia, we know that this will become the best ever World Junior Hockey Championship, one that all Canadians will be proud of."

" All those involved in hockey in the Province of British Columbia are proud to be part of this prestigious event. We look forward to the challenges that are ahead of us in hosting the 2006 World Junior Championship," said John Furlong, President of the Vancouver 2010 Transition Team. "This is a fantastic opener to the Olympic quadrennial and the eyes of the World are beginning to look at Vancouver as a focal point of major international events."

Vancouver, who is also host of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, will mark the seventh time that this international event has been staged in Canada and the first time it will be held in British Columbia. Other years in which Canada hosted this Championship were in 2003 (Halifax, NS), in 1999 (Winnipeg, MB), in 1995 (Red Deer, AB), in 1991 (Saskatoon, SK), in 1986 (Hamilton, ON), and in 1978 (Montreal, QC). Grand Forks, North Dakota will host the event in 2005. Canada has won a medal in the past six World Junior Championships, including a silver medal on in Finland after losing to the USA, 4-3.