| Current season or competition: 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships |
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| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1974 (unofficial) 1977 (official) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Russia |
| Official website | IIHF.com |
The International Ice Hockey Federation World Under 20 Championship (colloquially known as the World Junior Hockey Championship, usually abbreviated WJHC) is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is traditionally held in late December, ending in the beginning of January.
The main tournament features the top ten ranked hockey nations in the world, comprising the 'Top Division', from which a world champion is crowned. There are also three lower pools—divisions I, II and III—that each play separate tournaments playing for the right to be promoted to a higher pool, or face relegation to a lower pool.
The 2011 championship took place in Buffalo, New York, United States with Russia beating Canada in the gold medal match. In 2012, the tournament will take place in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta in Canada and in Ufa, Russia in 2013.
Contents |
These tournaments have been announced.
| Year | Host city (cities) | Host country |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Calgary and Edmonton | Canada[1] |
| 2013 | Ufa | Russia[2] |
| 2014 | Malmö | Sweden[3] |
| 2015 | Canada[4] | |
| 2016 | ||
| 2017 | Canada[4] | |
| 2018 | ||
| 2019 | Canada[4] | |
| 2020 | ||
| 2021 | Canada[4] |
First held in 1977 (1974–1976 were not official tournaments)[5] as a relatively obscure tournament, the WJHC has grown in prestige, particularly in Canada, where the tournament ranks as one of the most important events on the sports calendar.
Canada typically hosted the tournament every three to four years, consistently selling out Team Canada games, offering large profit guarantees to Hockey Canada.[6] Canada is expected to host the tournament every second year starting in 2015 due to the significantly greater following the tournament has in Canada compared to other participating countries. Originally, Switzerland was selected to host the WJHC in 2010, but withdrew.[7] Buffalo, New York, USA hosted the tournament in 2011.[8]
The tournament has been dominated by the teams from Russia/Soviet Union/CIS and Canada, together accounting for 27 of the 33 overall gold medals awarded. The USSR won the first four official tournaments, while the Canadians put together five straight championships between 1993 and 1997, and another five straight from 2005 to 2009. Canada leads the all-time gold medal count with 15, while USSR/Russia lead the all-time overall medal count with 28. Head-to-head matches between these two countries are always much anticipated.
In addition to the domination of gold medals by these two countries, Canada, Russia (and its predecessors) are joined by the Czech Republic (and its predecessor Czechoslovakia), Finland, Sweden, and the United States in dominating the medals overall. Among them, these six nations have taken every medal in the history of the tournament with the exception of one bronze medal each for Switzerland and Slovakia.
The tournament offers one of the most prestigious stages for young hockey players, able to significantly boost a player's value for upcoming NHL Entry Drafts.
One of the most infamous incidents in WJHC history occurred in 1987 in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, where a bench-clearing brawl occurred between Canada and the Soviet Union. It began when the Soviet Union's Pavel Kostichkin took a two-handed slash at Canadian player Theoren Fleury. The Soviet Union's Evgeny Davydov then came off the bench, eventually leading to both benches emptying. The officials, unable to break up the fight, left the ice and eventually tried shutting off the arena lights, but the brawl lasted for 20 minutes before the IIHF declared the game null and void. A 35-minute emergency meeting was held, resulting in the delegates voting 7–1 (the sole dissenter was Canadian Dennis McDonald) to eject both teams from the tournament. The Canadian team chose to leave rather than stay for the end-of-tournament dinner, from which the Soviet team was banned.
While the Soviets were out of medal contention, Canada was playing for the gold medal, and were leading 4–2 at the time of the brawl. The gold medal ultimately went to Finland, hosts Czechoslovakia took the silver and Sweden, who had previously been eliminated from medal contention, was awarded the bronze.[9]
Sweden, Finland and Canada have participated in all 34 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships as well as the 3 unofficial World Junior Hockey Championships although Canada and Soviet Union nearly were relegated to Pool B (now Division I) as punishment for the Punch-up in Piestany in 1988. USSR/CIS/Russia, Czechoslovakia/Czech-Republic, and the United States have mainly participated at the top level. When Czechoslovakia peacefully split in 1993, the Czech Republic remained in Pool A but Slovakia (Slovak Republic) was placed in Pool C (now Division II). In 1995, Slovakia became a main participant of the World Junior Hockey Championships and won bronze in 1999. Starting with the 1996 tournament, competition was increased from an 8 round robin to the current 10 team format. Since then, Switzerland has been a main participant. West Germany competed frequently from 1977 and since the reunification in 1990 the united Germany has continued that trend. Before the format change in 1996, Austria, Japan, Norway, Poland and Switzerland made brief appearances. After regaining their independence in the early 1990s, Latvia has made several appearances, along with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. These teams had to start from the bottom division in the early 1990s. France and Denmark have so far made one appearance each at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
At the conclusion of each tournament, the Directorate of the IIHF presents awards to the Top Goalie, Forward and Defenceman of the tournament. The media attending the event select an All-Star team separately from this.
The following television networks and websites broadcast World U20 Championship games on television or online.
| Country | Broadcaster(s) |
|---|---|
| Canada | The Sports Network (English), Réseau des sports (French) |
| United States | NHL Network, FastHockey.com |
| Czech Republic | Česká televize |
| Finland | MTV3 |
| Russia | NTV Plus |
| Slovakia | Slovenská televízia |
| Sweden | SVT/Viasat |
| Europe | Eurosport |
TSN (Canada) is the IIHF's main broadcast partner for this tournament. The online broadcasts on TSN.ca are available worldwide, except in Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. TSN.ca carries all Canada, select preliminary round, and all medal round games live, as well as most games on demand after their completion. [10]
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