World Junior A Challenge

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The World Junior A Challenge (WJAC) is an international ice hockey tournament sponsored by Hockey Canada, the Canadian Junior A Hockey League, and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Championship is to display the best-of-the-best at the Tier II Junior "A" level. The tournament is modeled after the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships which displays the best of Major Junior or Tier I Junior "A" hockey.

This tournament is to showcase players 19-years-old and younger, featuring Canadian born players from teams in the Canadian Junior A Hockey League and representative teams from Russia, Slovakia, Germany, and Belarus.

1 History
2 Champions
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Canada West's Justin Gvora w/ First ever awarded WJAC Championship Trophy and Medallion (2006)

The tournament was created in 2006 through a proposal by the Canadian Junior A Hockey League to Hockey Canada. The idea behind the tournament is to showcase all-star players in the CJAHL to Canadian Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and National Hockey League scouts while exposing the players to an international level and style of play.

Canada will be represented by two "all-star" teams of Canadian born players. Canada West will be comprised of players from the British Columbia Hockey League, Alberta Junior Hockey League, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and the Superior International Junior Hockey League (Hockey Northwestern Ontario). Canada East will feature players from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League, Central Junior A Hockey League (Ottawa District), Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League, and the Maritime Junior A Hockey League.

The 2006 tournament in Yorkton, Saskatchewan was the inaugural tournament and included teams from Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Belarus, and Canada. Canada East and Canada West outplayed all of their competition. In the tournament semi-final, Canada West crushed Team Slovakia 7-1, meanwhile Canada East defeated the Russians by a score of 5-1. The finals saw a classic showdown between the two Canadian teams: Canada West, featuring players from Thunder Bay, Ontario all the way to British Columbia, and Canada East, featuring players from Southern Ontario out to the Maritime Provinces. Led by Kyle Turris, Canada West ran up a 4-0 tally early in the game and held on for a 4-3 victory to win the first ever WJAC Championship.

The second tournament, in 2007, was held in Trail, British Columbia. Hockey Canada announced that at the WJAC 2007, Canada East and West had teams again, as well as Russia, Germany, Belarus. The United States was the sixth team in the tournament, but for reasons unknown the Slovakians were not been listed for the 2007 competition. ^[1]

[edit] Champions

For information on the specific tournament, check "Details".

Year				Host
2006 Details	Canada West	Canada East	Russia	Yorkton, Saskatchewan ^[2] ^[3]
2007 Details	Canada West	Canada East	United States	Trail, British Columbia ^[4] ^[5]
2008 Details				Camrose, Alberta ^[6]