Hockeyville won't host World Junior Camp

Councillor Mike Anthony informed the media today that North Bay was not selected as one of the nine locations to host a World Junior Pre-Competition Camp in the city next December.

The city put in the submission back in the fall and after winning Hockeyville, Anthony was very confident North Bay would be selected as a host site since only 12 submissions were made to Hockey Canada.

Anthony says he's also very disappointed in Hockey Canada's decision. Hockey Canada officials told the city that geography was the reason North Bay did not make the cut as most other communities chosen are within the GTA and Ottawa Valley region.

Sudbury was also not selected.

North Bay seemed like an obvious choice after the city was successfully named Hockeyville in 2007 and proved it could be more than capable in hosting a world class hockey event when the Atlanta Thrashers and New York Islanders played the Hockeyville pre-season game here on September 17th.

The week-long camp would have seen an international team come to North Bay for a week long training camp and at least one exhibition game.

Ottawa is hosting the 2009 World Junior Tournament and Team Canada will hold its camp nearby in Petawawa.

Anthony added that if one of the communities chosen elects to back out that the city would still be interested in hosting a team.