VICTORIAVILLE, Que. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League and Hockey Quebec, announced Tuesday the game schedule for the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, scheduled for Dec. to Jan. in Victoriaville and Drummondville, Que.

The 27-game tournament will be based out of the Centre Marcel Dionne in Drummondville, home of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, and at the Colisée in Victoriaville, home of the Victoriaville Tigres, both of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The gold medal game will be held Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be shown on TSN/RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcasters. All other games at the tournament, including preliminary round contests, placement games, semifinals and the bronze medal game, will be available through FASTHockey at hockeycanada.fasthockey.com.

Ticket packages for the tournament are now on sale, including a 25-ticket flex package that can be used for any games in either of the host cities, excluding medal games. The flex package is available for $250 (plus applicable fees).

In both Victoriaville and Drummondville, 13-game packages are available for adults ($125 plus applicable fees) and children ($50 plus applicable fees).

The 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge will bring together the top players in the world born in 1996 or later. The regional under-17 program is the first step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence. Many players who compete at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge go on to represent Canada with the National Men’s Under-18 Team, National Junior Team and National Men’s Team.

Since the first World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (then known as the Quebec Esso Cup) in 1986, more than 1,200 NHL draft picks have played in the tournament, including nine of the last 12 first-overall selections (Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011).

For more information on the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/wu17, or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/worldu17 or www.twitter.com/hc_wu17.