A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
By Andy Gardner.
DECEMBER 19, 2024 CORNWALL – The city will host two exhibition games for the upcoming 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship.
Cornwall is one of seven communities to host exhibition games from December 19 to 23. In total, 11 games will be played throughout Eastern Ontario on the road to the world juniors tournament.
Cornwall will be hosting two exhibition games at the Cornwall Civic Complex. On Friday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m., Finland will be taking on Slovakia. On Monday, Dec. 23, Team USA and Finland will hit the ice for a 4 p.m. game.
The road begins and ends in Ottawa, with three games scheduled for the nation's capital and Arnprior, along with Belleville, Brockville, Cornwall, Hawkesbury and Kingston. Over five days, all 10 competing teams will be on the ice. Ottawa is hosting the actual 2025 games for the first time in 16 years.
Tickets for the two exhibition games in Cornwall are on sale now at the Benson Centre and Cornwall Aquatic Centre Box Office, as well through TicketPro at https://shorturl.at/NPJtj
The players are mostly age 17 to 19. Plenty of future NHL stars have played in the world juniors, including Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid for Canada, Jack Hughes and Brady Tkachuk for the USA, Filip Forsberg and Victor Hedman for Sweden, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov for Russia. Over 100 NHL draft picks laced up for the 2024 tournament.
In addition to the two exhibition games, Finland and Slovakia will hold pre-tournament camps at the Cornwall Civic Complex and the Benson Centre from Dec. 16 to 23.
"Once again, the City of Cornwall is proud to be hosting teams from around the world as part of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship," Cornwall Mayor Justin Towndale said in a statement. "We value our continued partnership with Hockey Canada, and look forward to showcasing our community as we host the training camps and games."
Other Ontario communities hosting pre-tournament camps ahead of the holiday hockey tradition including Arnprior (Latvia), Belleville (Czechia and Sweden) Brockville (Switzerland), Carleton Place (Kazakhstan), Kingston (United States) and Ottawa (Canada and Germany).
"This year's World Juniors will celebrate hockey in Eastern Ontario, and we are thrilled to have these communities play host to practices and games leading up to Boxing Day," Dean McIntosh, a senior vice president for Hockey Canada, said in a statement. "We know fans and volunteers in each community take immense pride in welcoming the world, and we look forward to seeing the excitement build as the 10 teams prepare to compete for a gold medal in our nation's capital."
Canada will open its exhibition schedule with a pair of games at TD Place in Ottawa, taking on Switzerland on Dec. 19 and Sweden on Dec. 21 before facing Czechia at the Canadian Tire Centre on Dec. 23. All three games begin at 7 p.m. Limited individual game tickets remain available for 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa. Fans can secure a seat by visiting Hockeycanada.ca/WorldJuniors.
The 18,652-seat Canadian Tire Centre, home of the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators, will serve as the primary tournament competition venue and host 17 games, including both semifinals and the bronze and gold medal games. The additional 14 games are set for TD Place, home of the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's, which can hold about 9,000 fans.
"In 2009, the IIHF World Junior Championship generated $80.5 million in economic impact in Ontario, with over 450,000 fans attending the tournament. On the ice, Canada's Jordan Eberle's game-tying and game-winning goals in a semifinal win over Russia set off celebrations across the country, ultimately leading to Canada's fifth-consecutive gold medal in front of a sold-out crowd of red and white," a statement from Hockey Canada says.
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