Where is the 2023 World Juniors? Host city, venue for IIHF junior championship hockey tournament

Bryan Murphy

Where is the 2023 World Juniors? Host city, venue for IIHF junior championship hockey tournament image

For the third consecutive tournament, Canada will be the home for the IIHF World Juniors. 

We are about a month away from seeing the best U20 players in the world meet for one of the most anticipated hockey events of the year. Ten teams will gather in the Maritimes to fight for a gold medal. 

Canada is the reigning champion in the tournament. The team defeated Finland this summer in the gold medal at the 2022 World Juniors, thanks to Kent Johnson's OT winner. 

MORE: Watch the 2023 World Juniors live with fuboTV (free trial, U.S. only)

Here is what you need to know about the location of the 2023 World Juniors and future sites for the IIIHF tournament. 

Where is the 2023 World Juniors?

  • Location: Halifax N.S./Moncton, N.B.
  • Venue: Scotiabank Centre/Avenir Centre

The World Juniors will once again be split between two host cities, as the tournament will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick.  

The games in Halifax will be played at the Scotiabank Centre, the home of the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads. Any of the contests in Moncton will be played at the Avenir Centre, where the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats call home.

This will be the second time Halifax is a host city for the World Juniors. Previously, the 2003 World Juniors were split between Halifax and Sydney, N.S. Moncton has never hosted the World Juniors before.

What cities have hosted the World Juniors in the past?

The 2023 tournament marks the first time since 2020 that the tournament will be split between two cities. In the last two editions of the event, the IIHF was forced to limit the games to just one venue due to COVID-19.

It will be Canada's third time in a row hosting and the fourth in the last five years.

YEAR CITY COUNTRY
2023 Halifax/Moncton Canada
2022 Edmonton Canada
2021 Edmonton Canada
2020 Ostrava/Trinec Czech Republic
2019 Vancouver/Victoria Canada
2018 Buffalo, N.Y. United States
2017 Montreal/Toronto Canada
2016 Helsinki Finland
2015 Montreal/Toronto Canada
2014 Malmo Sweden
2013 Ufa Russia
2012 Calgary/Edmonton Canada
2011 Buffalo/Niagara, N.Y. United States
2010 Regina/Saskatoon Canada
2009 Ottawa Canada
2008 Pardubice/Liberec Czech Republic
2007 Leksand/Mora Sweden
2006 Kamloops/Kelowna/Vancouver Canada
2005 Grand Forks, N.D./Thief River Falls, Minn. United States
2004 Helsinki/Hameenlinna Finland
2003 Halifax/Sydney Canada
2002 Pardubice/Hradec Kralove Czech Republic
2001 Moscow/Podolsk Russia
2000 Skelleftea/Umea Sweden
1999 Winnipeg Canada
1998 Helsinki/Hameenlinna Finland
1997 Geneva/Morges Switzerland
1996 Boston, Mass. United States
1995 Red Deer Canada
1994 Ostrava/Frydek-Mistek Czech Republic
1993 Gavle/Fulun Sweden
1992 Fussen/Kaufbeuren Germany
1991 Saskatoon Canada
1990 Helsinki/Turku Finland
1989 Anchorage, Alaska United States
1988 Moscow Soviet Union
1987 Piestany Czechoslovakia
1986 Hamilton Canada
1985 Helsinki/Turku Finland
1984 Nykoping Sweden
1983 Leningrad Soviet Union
1982 Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. United States
1981 Fussen/Augsburg Germany
1980 Helsinki Finland
1979 Karlstad Sweden
1978 Montreal Canada
1977 Bystrica-Zvolen Czechoslovakia

What cities are hosting the World Juniors in the future?

The IIHF previously announced the host countries all the way until the 2032 tournament, however, the host cities are only known for the next two tournaments. 

Gothenburg, Sweden was initially scheduled to have the 2022 tournament, but due to COVID restrictions, they swapped spots with Canada, taking their place as the hosts for 2024. 

YEAR CITY COUNTRY
2024 Gothenburg Sweden
2025 TBD United States
2026 TBD Canada
2027 TBD Finland
2028 TBD Czech Republic
2029 TBD Canada
2030 TBD United States
2031 TBD Russia
2032 TBD Canada

When do the 2023 World Juniors start?

  • Start date: December 26, 2022
  • End date: January 5, 2023

With the 2023 tournament starting at the normal time of the year, that means the competition kicks off on Boxing Day, December 26. 

The group stage starts will take place over the first six days. The quarterfinals will be played on Jan. 2, the semifinals on Jan. 4 and the tournament will conclude with the bronze and gold medal games on Jan. 5.  

There will be pre-tournament exhibition games played ahead of the official start of the World Juniors. In total, 11 games will be played in either New Brunswick and Nova Scotia between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23.

How to watch 2023 World Juniors games on TV, live stream

  • ​TV channel (Canada): TSN
  • Live stream (Canada): TSN.ca, TSN app
  • TV channel (U.S.): NHL Network
  • Live stream (U.S.): fuboTV 

TSN and the NHL Network will once again be home to all of the action for the 2023 World Juniors.

Canadian viewers can watch the competition on TSN or can stream the games through TSN.ca or on the TSN app.

The American audience can view the games live on TV on the NHL Network, or can stream them through fuboTV.

2023 World Juniors odds

According to Sports Interaction, the 2023 tournament is a four-horse race. 

Canada, Finland, the United States and Sweden are the clear frontrunners to win this year's tournament, with the Canadians holding the best odds at +121. All four countries are +464 or higher, while the other six teams are +1299 or lower. 

Here are the odds as of now for the 2023 tournament. 

Team Odds
Canada +121
Finland +232
USA +348
Sweden +464
Czechia +1299
Slovakia +5010
Germany +9280
Switzerland +9280
Austria +50000
Latvia +50000

2023 World Juniors groups

Group A Group B
Canada USA
Sweden Finland
Czechia Switzerland
Germany Slovakia
Austria Latvia

Teams will play four preliminary games in a round-robin format within their group, followed by a three-round playoff.

In the group stage, teams earn three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss and no points for a regulation loss.

The top four teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals, where the matchups are determined by seeding. They will cross over between groups for these games: 1A vs. 4B, 1B vs. 4A, 2A vs. 3B and 2B vs. 3A. The teams that advance to the semifinals will be reseeded. 

The winners of the semifinals will face off in the gold medal game. The losers will play for bronze. 

Due to the irregular timing of the 2022 tournament, the IIHF announced that no team would be relegated. So it will be the same 10 teams that competed in August at the 2023 tourney. 

2023 World Juniors schedule

Monday, Dec. 26

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Finland vs. Switzerland 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Sweden vs. Austria 1:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Latvia vs. USA 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Czechia vs. Canada 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Tuesday, Dec. 27

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Finland vs. Slovakia 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Germany vs. Sweden 1:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Switzerland vs. Latvia 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Austria vs. Czechia 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Wednesday, Dec. 28

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Slovakia vs. USA 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Canada vs,. Germany 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Thursday, Dec. 29

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Latvia vs. Finland 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Sweden vs. Czechia 1:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
USA vs. Switzerland 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Austria vs. Canada 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Friday, Dec. 30

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Slovakia vs. Latvia 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Germany vs. Austria 4:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Saturday, Dec. 31

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Switzerland vs. Slovakia 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Czechia vs. Germany 1:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
USA vs. Finland 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Canada vs. Sweden 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Monday, Jan. 2

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Placement Game 9:30 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Quarterfinal 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Quarterfinal 1:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Quarterfinal 4 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Quarterfinal 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Wednesday, Jan. 4

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Placement Game 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Semifinal 2:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Semifinal 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Thursday, Jan. 5

Matchup Time (ET) TV
Placement Game 11 a.m. TSN/NHL Network
Bronze Medal Game 2:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network
Gold Medal Game 6:30 p.m. TSN/NHL Network

Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.