Quebec City And Trois-Rivières Make Joint Bid As Host For 2023 WJC

The annual World Junior Championship event is one that always has Canadians on the edge of their seat. From Newfoundland through the Maritimes and into Quebec, roaring down the 401 in Ontario, through the Prairies and into the Rocky Mountains, the yearly event has become an annual holiday tradition for most hockey craving citizens.

The 2022 edition will be exceptionally held from August 9th-20th this year, as to make up for the previously cancelled event due to COVID. The tournament will be held exclusively at Rogers Place in Edmonton and overaged players will be grandfathered into the tournament in order to make up for the lost event.

As for the 2023 event, it is still scheduled to take place this December as usual, starting on the 26th and ending on January 5th, 2023. The event was scheduled to take place in Novosibirsk (Group A) and Omsk (Group B) in Russia, however the IIHF revoked the hosting rights from Russia this past February in a move condemning the country’s actions against Ukraine.

The IIHF also suspended Russia and Belarus from international hockey until further notice. Obviously it is still too early to tell if the suspension will be lifted in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.

For the 2023 World Junior Championship, Canada is once again in contention to be the hosting country, having done so the past 2 tournaments in Alberta. Regina and Saskatoon have planned to present a joint bid to host the tournament, something they have done in 2010.

Now it seems that the province of Quebec is throwing their hat in the WJC bid. Quebec City and Trois-Rivières are planning to make a bid as joint hosts for the tournament. Quebec City has the NHL ready Centre Vidéotron while Trois-Rivières would use the ECHL Lions’ Colisée Vidéotron.

Québecor must be salivating at the idea of being the main sponsor of the event.

According to Matthew Vachon from La Presse, the original plan was to have Quebec and Ottawa as joint cities. For logistical reasons, the plan failed to come to fruition.

This would be an incredible coup for the province of Quebec as a whole. With the recent economic turmoil we are all experiencing, tourism can definitely use a boom and having the tournament held in Quebec and Trois-Rivières would also give Montreal a huge tourism boom as well.

Not to mention, Quebec City will continue to promote their NHL ready arena and Trois-Rivières will get lots of recognition, having just recently launched an ECHL team, which is only good news for the population and the game of hockey in general.

The province and hockey fans in Quebec would be spoiled if the bid were to succeed, as this year’s NHL draft is also schedule to take place at the Bell Center in Montreal.

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