Minnesota has been chosen as the host of the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championships, with an announcement expected to come Friday from Sweden, according to sources with knowledge of the selection.

The wildly popular tournament features 10 international teams playing 29 games over two weeks. Minnesota Sports and Events (MNSE), the organization that spearheads such recruiting efforts, placed a bid on the event last summer and had been interested in hosting the tournament in the state of hockey for years.

The dates for the tournament are always the same with the first game played Dec. 26 and the final one on Jan. 5. The games are expected to be played at Xcel Energy Center and 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The teams generally arrive a couple weeks in advance of the event and play host to multiple exhibition games throughout the state.

The United States last played host to the event in Buffalo, New York, beginning in December 2017. A much smaller version of the event was held in the Twin Cities in 1982.

The juniors feature elite players from around the globe. Last January, for example, Canada won the tournament under Connor Bedard, who went on to be the first draft pick in the NHL and now skates for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The selection of Minnesota was announced by “The Rink Live,” an online hockey news outlet. The Rink reported that Seattle was the other finalist for the tournament.

MNSE officials declined to confirm the selection which won’t be official until the announcement by the International Ice Hockey Federation in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Friday, the final day of this year’s event.

In a written statement, MNSE officials said only that they hadsubmitted a competitive bid to host the championship and that they “anticipate a decision soon and remain optimistic” that their bid will be selected.