IIHF president Luc Tardif said Minnesota was the best place to celebrate the 50th world juniors and praised how it went. As for the attendance, "the geopolitical situation makes it not so easy."
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – In a perfect world for tournament organizers, Canada and Team USA would have battled for a gold medal at the 2026 world juniors in Minnesota.
But the Americans fell in the quarterfinal, while Canada dropped their game in the semis. Sweden and Czechia made it to the gold medal game. Perhaps in an alternate world, the all-North American final would have boosted attendance, but at the IIHF's annual state-of-the-union press conference, organizers focused on what went right for the most part.
"We saw some exciting games in this tournament, especially yesterday," said IIHF president Luc Tardif said Monday. "I want to first of all congratulate the organizing committee, USA Hockey and the setup organized by the city of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. I know the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Wild supported the event, and Minnesota Sports and Events created an atmosphere of Christmas and celebration."
This also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the world juniors, and bringing the holiday classic to the 'State of Hockey' seemed like a great fit.
"It was important for the 50th anniversary of the tournament to come to Minnesota," Tardif said. "This is a hockey place, and it was the best place to celebrate this anniversary."
Unanimously, IIHF execs talked about the facilities in Minnesota – both at Grand Casino Arena, home of the NHL's Wild, and 3M Arena at Mariucci, home to the NCAA's Minnesota Golden Gophers men's team. In terms of organization, the tournament could not have gone better. It was well-staffed, and media access was great.
"Outstanding arena, great facilities and we see happy players," said Franz Reindl, IIHF chair of the events and championship committee. "This is the most important, that we see happy players."
The organizers also highlighted just how far the world juniors have come over the years.
"I played in this tournament in the '80s, and we cannot compare these tournaments at all," said IIHF senior VP Petr Briza. "You can see the development in the past 20, 10 years. This is a showcase for future talents, but it is also a global event."
Attendance was obviously soft for anyone who watched the games, and while organizers noted how much bigger Grand Casino Arena is compared to a lot of European venues that have hosted the tournament, there was also the acknowledgement that Canadians, who support the world juniors like no other nation, are currently not travelling to the United States the way the traditionally have due to American politics.
"We cannot forget," Tardif said, "that the geopolitical situation makes it not so easy."
Nonetheless, USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher pointed to some of the benchmarks reached at the tourney, such as 8,000 hotel rooms filled and $75 million of local economic impact.
"Minnesota Sports and Events did an incredible job pulling everyone together and putting on a first-class, high-quality event for all our friends around the world," Kelleher said. "We have a great partnership with the Minnesota Wild, Craig Leipold and the NHL. And most importantly, we want to thank the IIHF and president Tardif. Petr, Franz, everyone involved. It's a great responsibility to hold a world championship and a 50th anniversary, you want to do it right."
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The panel also fielded questions about the upcoming Olympics in Milan. The big topic for a long time now has been the main arena's construction and whether the rink will be ready in time. Tardif and a number of other big names will head to Italy in the coming days to see how progress is going. A press conference will be held on Jan. 12 to update the hockey world on what they see.
"The quality of ice and infrastructure is there," Tardif said. "The field of play will be ready, we can be confident in that. It won't be exactly what I expected because for such a high-profile event, 11,800 (seating capacity) is a little bit short, but that's what it is."
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