A person familiar with the decision has told The Associated Press that USA Hockey has selected Buffalo to host the 2018 World Junior Championship tournament. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity on Thursday because a formal announcement won't be made until Friday.
Buffalo was selected over four other finalists to host the event, beating out Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa, Florida.
It will mark the second time the tournament has been held in Buffalo. The 2011 World Juniors were held in Buffalo and drew more than 330,000 fans during the 11-day event. It was the second-best attended junior tournament at that time.
The tournament is likely to start in December 2017 with the title game held in January 2018.
A formal announcement will be made Friday at 3 p.m. at Ralph Wilson Stadium.