St. Paul prepares to welcome the globe for World Juniors hockey this year

If you’ve ever wondered how the Czech-Americans and Slovak-Americans from Minnesota’s Iron Range and their legendary ability to throw back adult beverages compares with the consumption habits of actual Czechs and Slovaks from places like Prague and Trencin, your answer may be less than a year away.

If you’re curious about the hockey fan passion of Lunds and Ludwigs and Naslunds from Roseau, Edina and Mora, and wonder how it compares with the hockey fan passion of Lunds and Ludwigs and Naslunds from Malmo, Stockholm and Vaxjo, you may be able to find out before the next New Year’s Eve.

With the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Hockey Championship recently concluded in Ottawa, the planet’s best men’s 20-and-under puck-shooters and puck-stoppers will be coming to Minnesota in roughly 11 months, and those who know the event commonly known as “World Juniors” say the State of Hockey is in for a crazy few weeks.

“I can’t wait for the people of Minnesota to see how big of a deal this tournament is,” said St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson, who was an assistant for the American team that brought gold medals home from Canada’s capital city. “The feel of having this at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, it’s going to be like the state tournament on steroids.”

The official announcement came a year ago that for only the second time in the 50 years that World Juniors has been contested, the Twin Cities will host the 10-team event, in late December 2025 and early January 2026. Ticket packages are already on sale for the 29 games that will be split between 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis and the Minnesota Wild’s home rink in downtown St. Paul.

In Ottawa, a delegation of more than two dozen people from Minnesota was on hand to observe and report, as the planning for the 2026 event began long before the successful bid process. Officials from Minnesota Sports & Events – which is the lead partner along with USA Hockey in organizing and hosting World Juniors 2026 – went to Canada along with representatives from media, retail, politics, health care, the venues and even St. Paul Parks & Rec to see what worked this time, and where Minnesota can do it better next December.

Fan fun planned

World Juniors is held in the dead of winter in cold-weather cities, meaning that beyond the games themselves, there need to be places for fans from Canada and Finland and Germany, etc., to eat, sleep, shop and take in the scene.

According to Wendy Blackshaw, chief executive of Minnesota Sports & Events, they will use roughly 8,000 hotel rooms throughout the Twin Cities for the event, and they expect an estimated statewide economic impact of $75 million.

In St. Paul, there are plans for both indoor and outdoor fun, with the RiverCentre adjacent to Xcel Energy Center hosting a fan fest similar to the Expo that runs in conjunction with the boys’ state hockey tournament each March. Next door, Rice Park is expected to have holiday lights, ice sculptures and outdoor activities. With 10 national teams, their fans, their media and countless others setting up camp in Minneapolis and St. Paul for the duration, there will be needs that go far beyond what is required for a typical Wild or Gophers game, or even for a major multi-team event like the state tournament.

“Our job was to see all of the things behind the scenes. What will we need for internet connectivity? What will be needed for broadcasts? What will we need to have five teams in the building? What space does each team need?” said Kelly McGrath, Xcel Energy Center’s executive director. “The medical people were there to learn what the expectations are for them and for each individual team, and there are wrinkles there. Everything has its own spin. So it was helpful for our team to see the practicalities of the tournament – space needs, locker room needs, technology – and the things that the IIHF and USA Hockey will expect when they’re here.”

Perhaps the biggest issue in Ottawa was proximity, with a primary and secondary arena both far removed from the shopping, nightlife and sight-seeing areas in that city. By contrast, with one arena in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus and another in downtown St. Paul, close to many nearby bars, restaurants and hotels, there are geographical advantages here. Although one notable attraction that is a drive from both rinks will surely see an influx of visitors, foreign and domestic.

“We hope to get a lot of fans here at the mall while they’re here for the World Juniors. I think it’s a natural destination for people to experience while they’re in Minnesota,” said Jill Renslow, chief marketing officer for Mall of America, who was part of the Minnesota delegation in Ottawa. “We’re working to be able to complement what is already being set up in Minneapolis and St. Paul at the arenas, to make sure fans can also feel the hockey energy here at the mall.”

Welcoming the world

The only other World Juniors contested primarily in the Twin Cities was in 1982, when the event was just barely on the sports radar in the United States. It has grown exponentially in scope and worldwide media coverage from that time when Minnesota state Sen. Karin Housley of Stillwater was watching her boyfriend (now husband) Phil skate for Team USA when they were both fresh out of South St. Paul High School.

Back home from her trip to Ottawa, Housley said there was much that they did right in Canada, and much that she thinks Minnesota will do even better. She noted that in addition to the rinks in Minneapolis and St. Paul, there are tentative plans to have pre-tournament games spread around the state to places like Mankato, Duluth, St. Cloud and elsewhere.

“It’s going to be so, so exciting for people from around the world to come to Minnesota,” said Housley, an honorary co-chair of the event. “There’s so much to see and do in the Twin Cities that I really want to show off all that we have.”

If she had one complaint about Ottawa, it was a dearth of World Juniors merchandise for sale, other than an over-abundance of Team Canada-branded gear, much of which was offered at discount prices after the host nation was upset by Czechia in the tournament’s quarterfinals.

The 2025 gold medal game, won by Team USA over Finland in overtime, was packed with Canadian fans who had suddenly adopted the Finns as their second-favorite team. As some have compared World Juniors to the Super Bowl in importance to Canadian sports fans, it is likely that next year there will be hordes of fans from Winnipeg and Thunder Bay and other points north making their way to the Twin Cities for the games.

Medal memories to be made

Long before they were wearing forest green and Iron Range red as Wild teammates, forward Matt Boldy and defenseman Brock Faber were clad in red, white and blue together in Edmonton in 2021, as the Americans blanked host Canada 2-0 in the finale to claim World Juniors gold. In the midst of the worldwide pandemic, the games were played in a nearly empty arena, devoid of the raucous fans that are expected in Minnesota. But crowd noise or no, Boldy’s medal is still savored.

“It was different, but we still won, and it still counts,” he said, with a smile.

With the tournament in their building this season, the Ottawa Senators had a nine-game road trip in December and early January. The Wild are prepared for something similar next season, which doesn’t concern them as much as whether they will have a few days off in Minnesota to catch some of the games.

Faber said last week that it was again clear how big this event is, with members of the Wild glued to the TV for every game, rooting for their respective home nations.

“It’s the best tournament in the world. It’s so much fun. At that age, it means everything,” he said. “Still, to this day, it shows that all of us watched it. Everyone cared about their countries winning. It’s the coolest tournament.”

With their 2025 win, the Americans have now claimed back-to-back gold for the first time in the tournament’s history, and as the host nation, the pressure will be on to three-peat in St. Paul. Wild coach John Hynes, who has been the Team USA head coach once and an assistant coach twice for World Juniors, found it unbelievable that it has been 40-plus years since the tournament was in the Twin Cities, but he said a fantastic event is inevitable.

“The level of hockey, and the intensity of it. You’ve got the world stage, it’s going to be great for St. Paul and Minneapolis,” Hynes said. “I think (about) the State of Hockey, young kids watching, the highest level of play before you turn pro. It’ll be a special experience for Minnesota for sure.”

Tickets

All-session ticket packages for the tournament are on sale at the IIHF website, WorldJuniorsMN26.com. They range in price from $2,072 to $3,350 and include tickets for all 29 World Juniors games.