Originally scheduled to be played in Russia before that country’s invasion of Ukraine, the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship will be played in Canada for the third consecutive year. This time the event is taking place in the Maritimes, with Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick serving as hosts.
The 2022 version of the tournament was cancelled last December due to a COVID-19 outbreak and then restarted in August. It wasn’t a popular tournament, with a combination of the summer schedule and a sexual assault scandal for some of Hockey Canada’s previous under-20 teams souring the sentiment for the event, leading to low turnout.