CALGARY – Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League announced on Monday that it has opened the bid process to determine the host cities for the 20 IIHF World Junior Championships, which will be held in Canada.

In May 2005, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced that Canada would host the World Junior Championship in both 20. Canada was awarded the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship in May 2007.

Bid guidelines are available to organizations, groups or individuals eligible to host the event, by making a request in writing to [email protected]. As part of the bid process, Hockey Canada will host a conference call for potential bid groups in November 2007.

Bid applicants have until to submit a letter of intent to make a bid submission for the 2010 and/or the 2012 World Junior Championship. The bid process will finish in the summer of 2008, when the site selection committee will submit its recommendations to the Hockey Canada Board of Directors.

The Site Selection Committee for the 20 IIHF World Junior Championships consists of: Bob Nicholson, President and CEO of Hockey Canada; David Branch, President of the CHL; Allan Morris, Chairman of the Board for Hockey Canada, Scott Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Hockey Canada and staff resource person Scott Farley, Hockey Canada’s Director, Marketing services and events.

The 20 tournaments will mark the ninth and tenth times that Canada has hosted the IIHF World Junior Championship, joining 2009 (Ottawa), 2006 (Vancouver/Kelowna/Kamloops, BC), 2003 (Halifax/Sydney, NS), 1999 (Winnipeg, MB), 1995 (Red Deer, AB), 1991 (Saskatoon, SK), 1986 (Hamilton, ON) and 1978 (Montreal, QC).

The 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship will be held from to in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic.