Officials with the World Junior Hockey championships made it official today. They're bringing the 2025-26 tournament to Minnesota.
The games will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul and 3M Arena at Mariucci on the University of Minnesota campus.
Minnesota Sports and Events president Wendy Blackshaw was there when the announcement was made Friday morning in Gothenburg, Sweden where the current tournament is being held.
"I cannot tell you how excited we are to be sitting up here," says Blackshaw. "I'm literally pinching myself."
In case you're still wondering, this is a big deal.
"We've hosted the Super Bowl, we've hosted Final Fours and those are great events," Blackshaw explains. "But when we reached out to our community, to the governor, to the (Minnesota) Wild, to all the people who helped us with this bid, the engagement and the enthusiasm was like nothing I had ever seen before."
The tournament in Minnesota will be the 50th anniversary of the World Juniors.
"With Minnesota having the most players of any state in our country, we couldn't think of a better spot for the 50th anniversary of the World Juniors, than Minnesota's community-based youth hockey programs, in particular their great showcase and example for our sport," says USA Hockey vice president Dwayne Dillinger.
This year's championship game is this Friday, with Team USA hosting Sweden.
Six players on the U.S. roster are from Minnesota with four of them current players with the Gophers.