OTTAWA (CP) - Ottawa won the bid to host the world junior hockey championship on its fourth try.

A source confirmed the Canadian capital was chosen as the host city for the 2009 world under-20 men's hockey championship.

Hockey has scheduled a news conference in Ottawa for Wednesday afternoon.

Ottawa had been unsuccessful in three previous attempts when the tournament was awarded to Vancouver in 2006, Halifax in 2003 and Winnipeg in 1999.

The Ottawa bid was led by Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt and the NHL's Senators and was chosen ahead of finalists Montreal, Toronto, a joint bid from Calgary and Edmonton and another joint effort from Saskatoon and Regina.

Red Deer (1995), Saskatoon (1991) and Montreal (1978) have also hosted the tournament.

will host the event again in 2012.

Montreal's bid was led by Canadiens' management and Toronto's was spearheaded by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Leafs and NBA's Raptors.

The tournament has become bigger and more profitable each time it has been held in and thus highly coveted.

Vancouver was the largest Canadian city to host a world junior championship and one of the reasons it gained the tournament was by guaranteeing a profit of at least $5.2 million in its bid. It actually reached about $9 million at the tournament's end.

Vancouver held games at both Pacific Coliseum and GM Place and pool games were also held in Kelowna and Kamloops, B.C. The tournament set an attendance record at 325,138 and ticket sales were more than 400,000.

Hockey gets 50 per cent of the profits from the tournament in , the Canadian Hockey League 35 per cent and the provincial amateur hockey association of the host city or cities receive the remaining 15 per cent.

The site selection committee includes Hockey president Bob Nicholson, chairman Rene Marcil, vice-president of business operations Scott Smith and Canadian Hockey League president David Branch.