London, Windsor lose bid to be host of World Juniors tourney

Dejected Canadian players after losing to Finland at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships quarterfinal match between Finland and Canada in Helsinki, Finland, on Saturday Jan. 2, 2016. (Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva via AP)

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London and Windsor have lost the bid to play host to the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship.

TSN is reporting the tournament will be in Vancouver and Victoria.

Hockey Canada will make the announcement official at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Windsor had committed $400,000 dollars for hosting, while London was on the hook for $600,000. But none of that money will be spent since the tournament will not be held in Southwestern Ontario.

The news will come as a disappointment to Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.

He told CTV News back in October that their joint presentation to Hockey Canada went very well.

Dilkens said they highlighted the region’s affordability, the history of junior hockey locally, and their expansive market reach to the Greater Detroit Area and the Greater Toronto Area.

This year’s tournament will be split between Toronto and Montreal, as it was in 2015.

The 2017 tournament will take place in Buffalo.

Last year’s tournament took place in Helsinki, Finland with the host country winning gold for the second consecutive year.