Canada's top junior hockey players from the OHL will face off against the best junior hockey players from Russia at Budweiser Gardens this fall.
The schedule for the 2019 CIBC Canada Russia Series was unveiled on Tuesday. The six-game series features games between the Russian National Junior team and teams made up of players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League. It will include a game between Team OHL and the Russian National Junior team at Budweiser Gardens on November 11. The series, which kicks off November 4 in Moncton, New Brunswick, is considered an integral part of the process through which the players that will make up the Team Canada roster at the World Junior Hockey Championship are selected.
“The Canada and Russia rivalry is like no other in hockey and continues to ignite passion among the players competing on the ice and for the fans following along in CHL communities across the country,” Canadian Hockey League president David Branch said in a statement released Tuesday. “This is a showcase of our league’s best players and the stars who will proudly don the maple leaf at Christmas as members of Canada’s National Junior Team in pursuit of gold at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic.”
The game in London will be the fourth game of the series. Games 1 and 2 will be in Moncton. Kitchener will host Game 3, while Games 5 and 6 will be played in Saskatoon and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan respectively.
Tickets for the game at Budweiser Gardens go on sale Wednesday, August 28 at 10 a.m.