London finds out today if it's going on to the medal round in its bid to land the world junior hockey championships in 2006. Hockey Canada today will announce a five-bid shortlist from among 11 centres vying for the coveted tournament.

"We're certainly quite excited about the prospect of being selected one of the top five,'' John Winston, general manager of Tourism London, said last night.

"We're confident we have an excellent bid and we're confident the selection committee will see it that way. We want in the medal round.''

Winston said he expects a call from Hockey Canada before this morning's cut.

Eleven cities are bidding -- London, partnered with Kitchener, plus Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Quebec City, Halifax, Saskatoon, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

At stake for the winner is international media exposure and business spinoffs from thousands of fans.

It's London's first bid for such a big-ticket hockey event since the opening of its $42-million downtown arena, the John Labatt Centre, in 2002.

The bid selection committee includes Bob Nicholson, president of Hockey Canada; Dave Branch, president of the Canadian Hockey League and commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League; Allan Matthews, chair of Hockey Canada; and Scott Smith, Hockey Canada's vice president of business operations.

Branch could not be reached for comment last night.

Each of the final five chosen will make final, one-hour presentations in Calgary on Sunday.

Hockey Canada is expected to announce the winning bid no later than Jan. 30.

If London makes the cut, Winston said a five-member London committee will rehearse its presentation three times -- twice this week in London and Saturday in Calgary -- before the final pitch.

A lottery today will determine the order of the presentations by each city, he said.

Winston said the London delegation hasn't been finalized but will probably include Winston, Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco, Tourism London's manager of sports Blair McIntosh and the bid committee's co-chairpersons, Gord MacKenzie of London and Jim Rooney, owner of the OHL's Guelph Storm.

Rooney has experience in previous bid battles, including for the Memorial Cup.

Since it's Canada's turn to hold the event in 2006, the site selected automatically gets the tournament but must still be approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) at its May meetings.

The tournament starts late in December 2005.

Winston said London had no information about its ranking heading into the shortlist cut, but it's believed London is among the front-runners along with Vancouver, Quebec City, Saskatoon and Ottawa.

"We've heard nothing from the selection committee except a series of questions was posed to us on Friday and we responded by noon on Saturday,'' Winston said.

"They were questions around the bid documents -- that's all I can say. I think the same questions were asked of all the participating cities.''

Winston said he believes what sets London's bid apart from the others is its business plan and that Londoners seem to have embraced the bid.

London has pre-sold 6,700 ticket packages to the event on $50 deposits. About 1,500 have been sold in Kitchener.

"The support of the community is going to be a major element in their decision,'' Winston added.

London city council unanimously backed the bid last month.

A major sticking point in getting council approval was a Hockey Canada demand for a guaranteed $3.5 million profit from the host city.

Winston says more than 1,000 visitors for the two-week tournament would pump an estimated $25 million into the economy and attract as many as 500 media personnel.

This year's tournament was held in Finland, where Canada finished second to the U.S.

Next year's tournament will be held at Grand Forks, N.D.

Canada last held the world juniors in 2003 in Halifax. Seven cities, including London, bid on that event.