The Ralph Engelstad Arena will host the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Men’s World Championship in 2016. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

USA Hockey announced on Oct. 31 that Grand Forks’ Ralph Engelstad Arena has been chosen to host the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Men’s World Championship.

The tournament will take place in April of 2016 and will feature some of the world’s top players under the age of 18. The Ralph Engelstad will serve as the main arena for 10 nations coming to Grand Forks to play.

“The Ralph is a great fit for the event because of the large capacity the arena offers, with all the locker rooms and extensive support staff we have,” said Jody Hodgson, general manager of Ralph Engelstad Arena. “It’s going to really help with how everything runs.”

Hosting an event like the IIHF takes detailed planning and perpetration.

“An extensive event plan will go into doing this right,” Hodgson said. “With the amount teams coming to stay in Grand Forks, and all the food and transportation that comes into play with that makes for a lot of planning. It’s an 18-month process from here that is an extensive endeavor.”

IIHF tournament carries with it elite alumni such as Patrick Kane, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and is well known throughout the hockey community as being a highly respected event.

“We want to make it a great player experience and a great fan experience,” Hodgson said. “One of our main goals is to break the attendance record of the tournament, which is currently 115,000 people.”

Ralph Engelstad Arena will have to average more than 3,000 fans per game if in order to break the attendance record. The Ralph’s capacity is 11,643, giving the rink plenty of room to break it if it draws enough fans.

“I think the community will really rally around the event,” Hodgson said. “There are so many smart, passionate hockey fans that really understand the game. It should make it really great.”

The United States has dominated the IIHF in past years, and its success will be a clear drawing factor for local fans.

The United States started a streak of winning gold medals when the tournament came to Fargo in 2009.

The U.S. has taken gold five medals during the last six IIHF tournaments, only losing the gold medal game in 2013 to Canada but winning again in 2014.

“When Ralph Engelstad built the arena, his vision was to be able to attract world-class events like this to Grand Forks,” Hodgson said in an interview with USA Hockey.

The Ralph has been open for more than 13 years and it looks to be that the “Taj Mahal of hockey” as it sees yet another international event.

With well over a year remaining until the IIHF comes to Grand Forks, fans and Ralph Engelstad Arena employees will have plenty of time to get ready for tournament.

Ben Novak is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].