October 20, 2003

BID GUIDELINES AVAILABLE FOR POTENTIAL HOSTS OF
2006 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

CALGARY, AB – Hockey Canada has made bid guidelines available for Canadian cities interested in hosting the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, Hockey Canada announced on Monday. The 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will be hosted by Canada, and will run from late December 2005 through early January 2006.

In September, Hockey Canada was awarded the right to host the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship by the IIHF at its semi-annual congress meetings in Greece. The selected Canadian host city/site is expected to receive final approval at the IIHF Congress in May 2004.

To receive a copy of the 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship bid guidelines, Canadian bid groups must e-mail a request to wwalman@hockeycanada.ca (or visit www.hockeycanada.ca for link), including name, affiliation and all contact information. A full package of bid guidelines will then be sent to those groups requesting information.

The tentative bid process timelines are as follows:

– Now available Bid guidelines made available by Hockey Canada (www.hockeycanada.ca or email: wwalman@hockeycanada.ca )
– November 17, 2003 Conference call with Bid applicants with Site Selection Committee
– December 1, 2003 Letter of Intent for Bid Submission
– December 15, 2003 Conference call with Bid applicants with Site Selection Committee
– January 5, 2004 Submission of Bid Presentations
– January 18, 2004 In-person Bid Presentation
– January 30, 2004 Hockey Canada’s Board of Directors
determines site for 2006 IIHF World Junior Hockey
Championship

Canada has hosted the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship six times: 2002 (Halifax, NS), 1999 (Winnipeg, MB), 1995 (Red Deer, AB), 1991 (Saskatoon, SK), 1986 (Hamilton, ON), 1978 (Montreal, QC)

The IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will be hosted by Finland this year (Helsinki, Hameenlinna) and by the USA (Grand Forks, North Dakota) in 2005.

For any additional information on the bid guidelines, contact Scott Smith, Vice-president, Business Operations with Hockey Canada at 403-777-4584.

For further information on the World Junior Hockey Championship and Hockey Canada’s high performance and development programs, visit Hockey Canada’s official website at www.hockeycanada.ca.

For more information:
Brad Pascall, Communications

403-777-4556

bpascall@hockeycanada.ca