The IIHF made it official Thursday that the '21 World Juniors will be "held in Edmonton during the coming holiday season in the same bubble environment the NHL players have experienced here," according to Terry Jones of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. One year later, the event will then "return for an already-sold-out Edmonton-Red Deer world junior combination that was originally planned for this holiday season." The "exceptional experience of the so-far flawless hosting of the NHL’s return-to-play project has resulted in the unique double dip." However, there will "no longer be a Red Deer component for the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 edition." One aspect that made the '21-empty-building/'22-full-buildings combination concept "attractive is that the Edmonton organizing committee could keep the planning in place and still follow-up a year later with the signature Ice District celebrations" (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 9/18). ESPN.com's Chris Peters reported as a result of this, Gothenburg, Sweden, which was due to host the World Juniors in '22, "switched with Canada's next scheduled host year, 2024" (ESPN.com, 9/17).
