The pre-tournament schedule for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship has been announced, with six communities slated to host games from Dec. 19-23, 2022. In total, 11 games will be played throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in advance of the World Juniors.
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The province of New Brunswick will host five matchups, with games scheduled in Bouctouche, Moncton and Quispamsis. All three medallists from the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship – Canada, Finland and Sweden – will play pre-tournament games in New Brunswick.
Canada will open its exhibition schedule with games at Avenir Centre in Moncton, N.B., on Dec. 19 and 21, facing Switzerland and Slovakia, respectively.
Six exhibition games will take place in Nova Scotia, in Antigonish, Halifax and Truro. The final pre-tournament game will be a rematch of the 2022 World Juniors gold medal game, with Canada and Finland taking to the ice at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax on Dec. 23.
“This year’s World Juniors will celebrate hockey across the Maritimes, and we are thrilled to have six communities host games leading up to the tournament,” said Dean McIntosh, vice-president of events and properties for Hockey Canada. “We cannot wait to see fans in each community cheering on the 10 teams as they prepare to compete for gold starting on Boxing Day.”
Among the matchups, the United States will face Finland in Quispamsis on Dec. 19, Germany will play Austria in Antigonish on Dec. 20 and Latvia on Dec. 22 in Bouctouche, and Truro will host Slovakia and Austria on Dec. 23.
Ticket information for pre-tournament games will be available at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets in the coming days.
TSN and RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada, will air five pre-tournament games, including all three featuring Canada, the United States and Sweden on Dec. 21 and Sweden and Slovakia on Dec. 23.
Limited tournament ticket packages, which include pre-tournament games, remain available for 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship games in Halifax and Moncton at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets. If inventory remains, single-game tickets will go on sale to the public on Dec. 6.