Posts Tagged ‘iihf’

Buffalo Is A WJC Host City Finalist

Aug 21, 2008 WJC

Buffalo, along with Grand Forks, ND and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota is a finalist to host the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships (you know, for hockey).  The WJCs are a great showcase of young talent, with numerous NHLers having played in recent years, with the Sabres shown here:

Another interesting bit there (and something important to the area) is the potential economic impact.  Just like when Buffalo hosts NCAA tournament games, this is a great way to get people to travel to your town and stay for a few days, and Buffalo just doesn’t have a whole lot of that going on.  The deciders will be making site visits next month, so let’s hope a great showing for that, plus the fact that the other two places have already hosted the tournament, means Buffalo has the inside track.

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NHL Can Now Ransack Europe

Jun 17, 2008 NHL

…for free.  You can go ahead and make a ‘and France already surrendered!’ joke if it makes you feel better.  The international transfer deal between the NHL and IIHF has expired, meaning the league no longer pays the $200,000 fee to sign European free agents.  NHL teams currently spend about $11 million a year on European free agents, many of which end up in the minors.  This can’t be good for the clubs in the IIHF leagues, who were already worried about their talent leaving for the (potential) payday in the US and Canada.

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