Duluth To Host 2027 IIHF U-18 World Hockey Championship
It was announced today that Duluth will be the host city for an international sporting event next year.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), in conjunction with several local and regional representatives, announced Thursday morning at AMSOIL Arena that the 2027 IIHF Under-18 Championship tournament will be coming to the Northland next spring.
The IIHF hosted its World Juniors event in Minnesota at the beginning of 2026, with Duluth being one of the cities that hosted exhibition games before the tournament in the Twin Cities.
During the announcement event on Thursday morning, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment President and CEO Wendy Blackshaw commented that she and her organization were "blown away" by Duluth's participation and welcoming spirit for the exhibition games.
She went on to express the hope that continues with the upcoming Under-18 tournament, saying, "Let's remind the world why we are the State of Hockey", encouraging Northlanders to support the event through volunteering, attending games, and sponsorship opportunities.
Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert shared remarks during the event about how Duluth has a history of hosting world-class events, pointing to Grandma's Marathon as a prime example. He says hosting the IIHF U-18 event in the Spring of 2027 will give Duluth another way to showcase the area and welcome others from around the world.
Just like with Grandma's Marathon, he is inviting community members to be part of volunteer opportunities around this event and be good ambassadors for the area as visitors arrive.
USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher commented via a written release, saying, “Duluth is one of America’s great hockey communities and an ideal setting for this tournament. Fans will have the chance to experience elite international competition and see many of the future stars of the NHL competing on a world stage for the first time.”
As highlighted by USA Hockey Assistant Executive Director Tony Driscoll, NHL talent like Quinn Hughes and Matt Boldy, along with local names like Max & Victor Plante have all played in U-18 tournaments over the years.
The entirety of the 2027 IIHF U-18 event will be hosted at AMSOIL Arena, with the preliminary round games getting underway on April 21.
A total of 10 participating nations will be divided into two groups. Each team will play the other four teams in their group in the preliminary rounds starting April 21, with the top four teams from each group moving on to the quarterfinals on April 29, and the winners advancing to the semifinals on May 1.
The groupings are as follows:
Group A: United States, Sweden, Latvia, Denmark, and Norway
Group B: Canada, Slovakia, Finland, Belarus, and Czechia
Tony Driscoll laid out the first few games for Team USA during the preliminary rounds, which include the first game on April 21 against Norway, a game against Latvia on April 23, an April 24 matchup against Sweden, and a game against Denmark on April 26.
The bronze medal game and gold medal game will both be hosted on May 2, with the bronze game at AMSOIL at 1 pm, and the gold medal game at 5 pm.
Single-game tickets for the preliminary rounds will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, September 22 at 10 am, starting at $15 per ticket.
In addition to single-game tickets, there will be various ticket packages, including an all-sesson package to all of the event's games, a Team USA preliminary round package for all four of the team's preliminary round games, and other packages. Tickets will be available via the IIHF website.
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