In 2018, an American city will be hosting the World Junior Championships. They've made a solid push so far, and as the Blues pushed back in July, St. Louis has had some excellent success in the past with tournaments of this nature, such as the Frozen Four a few years back.
The Heartland of Hockey will be up against the frozen tundra of Buffalo and the Steel City for final contention to host the 2018 World Juniors. From the Blues' press release:
USA Hockey has chosen its finalists for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships, and St. Louis is among the cities still in contention. Led by the St. Louis Blues and the St. Louis Sports Commission, the city has emerged as a hub for youth, amateur and professional hockey. The local committee working to bring the tournament to St. Louis includes Blues President and CEO Chris Zimmerman, former Blue and Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull, former Blue and United States Hockey Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, and Total Hockey Founder Michael Benoit.
Officials from USA Hockey will visit each of the three finalist cities over the next month and a final decision on the host for the event is expected by the end of the year. If St. Louis is selected, Scottrade Center and Family Arena would host the events, which will feature 10 nations and many future NHL stars under the age of 20. The event is held in late December / early January. In late July, USA Hockey announced St. Louis, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Tampa as five finalists to host the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship.
"The Blues and Scottrade Center, and our partners at the St. Louis Sports Commission, recognized this event would have a scope and the ability to touch our city and region at a level we really haven’t done since the 1904 Olympics," said Zimmerman. "St. Louis has demonstrated its love for sports on so many levels. If you look back to the 2007 Frozen Four, St. Louis had the highest attendance of any arena-based Frozen Four in the history of the event. St. Louis is a great city that really rises to the occasion for these great amateur events."
Let us all pray that the World Juniors don't involve any events with strychnine, rabid dogs, bad fruit, or cholera. Many people claim that the 1904 Olympics nearly killed the modern Games, but they were far more successful than people give them credit for - ask the one legged gymnast. I'm sure that the World Juniors will far outshine St. Louis' Olympic bid.