Buffalo, St. Louis, Pittsburgh named finalists to host 2018 World Juniors

Buffalo, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh have been selected as finalists to host the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship.

Officials will visit each of the three cities over the next month and the final decision is expected to be made before the end of the year, USA Hockey announced Tuesday.

"We look forward to this next step in our selection process," USA Hockey spokesman Mike Bertsch said. "It was extremely difficult to get down to three. All five of the cities we were considering made a compelling case."

Chicago and Tampa were the other cities being considered.

Buffalo hosted the annual IIHF event in 2011, the last time it was held in the United States.