Grand Forks will compete against Buffalo, N.Y., and Minneapolis-St. Paul to land the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-20 Championship.
As expected, USA Hockey announced those three cities as finalists for the tournament Thursday.
Grand Forks will try to land the event for the second time in seven years. It hosted the 2005 event along with Thief River Falls, which was the last time the World Juniors were held in America.
"It will be a challenge to convince USA Hockey to bring the event to the same host twice in a row, but we believe we have a solid bid and will do everything we can in an effort to bring this prestigious event back to our communities," said Chris Semrau, Ralph Engelstad Arena director of events-media relations.
The 2011 event would be in Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks and the Moorhead Sports Center.
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USA Hockey will conduct a site visit of Grand Forks on Sept. 15-16. An announcement on the host could come a few weeks following the site tours of each finalist.
"The World Under-20 Championship is a spectacular event that we're extremely pleased to be hosting again," said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. "We had interest in this event from more than 20 different entities across the country. We've narrowed the field to three very worthy finalists and look forward to reaching a decision before the end of the year."
The event is a 10-nation tournament featuring the top men's hockey players in the world under the age of 20.
"It will be a real treat for sports fans in our country to have the World Junior Championship back in the United States," said Ron DeGregorio, president of USA Hockey. "It's a very special event with an extremely high level of talent."
"The last time we hosted the World Junior Championship back in 2005, fans got to see players like Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin to name just a few," said Jim Johannson, a two-time Olympian who serves as USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations. "The bottom line for hockey fans is, outside of the Olympics, the World Junior Championship is probably the best international tournament they'll ever get to witness."
The United States has hosted the event four times. The other hosts were Boston (1996), Anchorage, Alaska (1989) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (1982).
The 2005 event in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls was the highest-attended World Junior Championship on American soil.
