In addition to complete stadium renovations, the heads of the organizing committee have held meetings concerning security with all safety units as well as fine-tuned all the details. The championship will take place from 13th to 23rd April in Poprad and Spisska Nova Ves.

The president of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, Martin Kohut, is very excited about the upcoming championship held at the foothills of the Tatras. “I can’t wait for the moment when the finest talents from around the world in the U18 category will introduce themselves. I believe that our young men will present themselves in the best possible light and will achieve good results with quality opponents. I’m convinced that all hockey fans – Slovak and foreign alike – will enjoy the moments in the arenas in Poprad and Spisska Nova Ves,” said Martin Kohut.

Meszaros’ advice to players: Performance to the edge of your limits.

The U18 World Championship will be a sharp entry into the world of top tier international hockey for the majority of talented players. They will have the opportunity to show their strengths and give their career path a new dimension. Defenceman Andrej Meszaros knows a thing or two about this, having represented the Slovak U18 national team in 2003 at the championships in Yaroslavl, Russia, from where they brought back silver. “To this day I have fond memories of that tournament. We were a great team and in a joint effort we achieved an excellent result. And that is something the current team of youngsters can build on – if they all deliver a performance to their limits and pull together, they can go very far. Moreover, their fans will drive them forward,” said Andrej Meszaros, who experienced the home championship in Piestany and Trnava a year before winning silver in Russia.

The organizers have also prepared discounts. “There will be free admission for students to each first match of the day in both arenas,” revealed the tournament director, Roman Stambersky, while adding: “Slovak clubs can receive up to 100 tickets from the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation; all they need to do is notify the federation. A hundred tickets for each match have also been distributed to home clubs whose arenas will host the championship.”

The tournament will start with the first games of the preliminary round on Thursday, 13th April. There will be ten teams in two groups. Host nationa Slovakia will play in Group A that also includes defending champion Finland, Canada, Switzerland and Latvia. Group B in Spisska Nova Ves consists of the teams from Sweden, the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic and Belarus. The best four teams from each group will play the quarter-finals on 20th April. The final games are set on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd April.