Slovenia was already awarded the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division I Group B last May during the Annual Congress and a few months later also got Group A the same month.

With no applicant at the last Congress, the Slovenian Ice Hockey Association offered the IIHF to host the event in the picturesque town of Bled in northern Slovenia. After the consent of the six participating nations the application was approved by the IIHF and formally at the Semi-Annual Congress in September.

The U18 World Championship’s Division I Group A includes Denmark, Germany, Kazakhstan, France, Norway and Hungary, who will battle for promotion to the top tier, and will be played 7-13 April 2017 while the Group B with Austria, Japan, Ukraine, Slovenia, Italy and Poland will follow from 15 to 21 April 2017. That means more than two weeks of international hockey action for the town.

Bled hosted international events before including the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group A last spring and the 2011 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division I Group B.