Swift Current, SK---Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation have announced that the City of Swift Current and the Swift Current Broncos will host Russia versus Latvia in a 2010 IIHF World Junior pre-competition game on Monday December 21st , 2009.
The province of Saskatchewan is hosting the prestigious 2010 IIHF World Junior Tournament as 6 cities across the province will host pre-competition games and the cities of Regina and Saskatoon will host the preliminary and championship rounds.
“The Broncos are extremely excited for the opportunity to work in partnership with the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and to bring our fans another top-level international hockey event,” comments Director of Business Operations Jordan Wall. “We anticipate this will truly be a memorable event that the fans of Southwestern Saskatchewan will want to see and be a part of.”
Russia is the number 1 ranked hockey nation, slightly ahead of Canada, in the latest IIHF men’s rankings which combine performances at the Olympics, World Hockey Championships and the World Junior Championships. The team will feature up to 10 returnees from the 2009 squad which won bronze in Ottawa. The Russians team has plenty of fire power as a few future Alexander Ovechkin’s and Evgeni Malkin’s are poised to return to this year’s team including: Columbus Blue Jackets’ first rounder Nikita Filatov, Florida Panthers’ first rounder Dmitri Kulikov and potential top pick in the 2010 draft, Kirill Kabanov. These players headline a Russian team that came so close to the gold medal game last year after they lost in a shootout to Canada after Jordan Eberle’s last second heroics tied the game for Canada. Russia is coached by former NHLer Sergei Nemchinov and will be playing their only 2010 pre-competition game in Swift Current.
Over the past 11 years, the Russians have won 3 World Junior Championships including 2 in Canada. (Halifax in 2003 and Winnipeg in 1999)
Latvia is strengthening its hockey reputation and is participating in the 2010 event after finishing 8th last year in Ottawa. The Russians are Latvia’s main rival and can return up to 11 players from last year’s team. Some familiar Latvians who made the NHL are: Arturs Irbe, Karlis Skrastins and Sandis Ozolinsh.
Broncos’ season ticket holders have the World Junior pre-competition game included in their season ticket package at a cost of $20. If you have or want to purchase a Broncos 12 game mini-pack or a Broncos Pro-Rated Season Ticket you can get your International Under-20 Pre-Competition Game ticket for just $20.
The regular ticket price for the game is $25 for all seats. Call the Broncos office at 773-1509 to get your ticket to this one-time opportunity to see several future NHLers on the ice in an International event.
Tickets for the tournament, which starts on Boxing Day in Regina and Saskatoon, are available now through Ticketmaster, either at www.ticketmaster.ca, 1-800-970-SEAT, or any Ticketmaster outlet.
For more information on the entire tournament visit the World Juniors booth at the Broncos’ game versus the Saskatoon Blades on Friday, October 23rd
2 comments:
Jon,
I have a couple questions:
Will there be any World Jr training camps held in other cities? Last year in Ottawa I remember they talked how teams moved into surrounding arenas to practice before the tourney started. Will that happen again this year and what would the chances be of a team coming here?
And a question about Sirard. He is from Quebec, how did his rights become available here. Was he passed over in the Q draft and become a FA, or did he have to clear waivers before he could sign in the W?
Just curious
Thanks
Not sure on the training camp question
But I would assume the US would hold there's somewhere.
As for sirard, he was never drafted by a qmjhl team but his family recently moved to calgary and the broncos listed him at that point.
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