1978 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

1978 IIHF World U20 Championship
Tournament details
Host country  Canada
Dates December 22, 1977 –
January 3, 1978
Teams 8
Venue(s) 5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions   Soviet Union (2nd title)
Runner-up   Sweden
Third place   Canada
Fourth place  Czechoslovakia
Tournament statistics
Matches played 25
Goals scored 248 (9.92 per match)
Scoring leader(s) Canada Wayne Gretzky
(17 points)
← 1977
1979 →

The 1978 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1978 WJHC) was the second edition World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and was held from December 22, 1977 until January 3, 1978. The tournament was held in Canada, mainly in Montreal and Quebec City. The Soviet Union won its second consecutive gold medal, while Sweden won the silver, and Canada the bronze.

Final standings

The 1978 tournament divided participants into two divisions of four teams, each playing three games. The top two teams in each division advanced to the medal round (Group A), while the bottom two were placed in Group B. Each division played another round robin. The top two teams in the medal round played a one game final for the gold medal.

This is the aggregate standings, ordered according to final placing. The four teams in the medal round (Group A) were ranked one through four, while the four teams in Group B were ranked five through eight regardless of overall record.

Rank Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
1st  Soviet Union 7 6 1 0 50 16 12
2nd  Sweden 7 4 2 1 28 24 9
3rd  Canada 6 4 2 0 36 18 8
4  Czechoslovakia 6 2 4 0 21 32 4
5  United States 6 4 2 0 41 30 8
6  Finland 6 3 2 1 45 25 6
7  West Germany 6 1 5 0 20 33 2
8   Switzerland 6 0 6 0 7 70 0

  Switzerland was relegated to Pool B for the 1979 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Preliminary round

Gold group

Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
 Sweden 3 2 0 1 18 8 5
 Soviet Union 3 2 1 0 31 11 4
 Finland 3 1 1 1 26 15 3
  Switzerland 3 0 3 0 3 44 0
December 22, 1977 Soviet Union  18 – 1
(4–0, 5–0, 9–1)		   Switzerland Cornwall, Ontario
December 22, 1977 Sweden  4 – 4
(1–2, 1–1, 2–1)		  Finland Chicoutimi, Quebec
December 23, 1977 Sweden  6 – 3
(2–0, 3–1, 1–2)		  Soviet Union Quebec City, Quebec
December 23, 1977 Switzerland   1 – 18
(0–4, 1–7, 0–7)		  Finland Chicoutimi, Quebec
December 26, 1977 Sweden  8 – 1
(3–0, 3–0, 2–1)		   Switzerland Cornwall, Ontario
December 26, 1977 Soviet Union  10 – 4
(3–1, 3–2, 4–1)		  Finland Montreal, Quebec

Blue group

Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
 Canada 3 3 0 0 23 6 6
 Czechoslovakia 3 2 1 0 16 18 4
 United States 3 1 2 0 16 18 2
 West Germany 3 0 3 0 8 21 0
December 22, 1977 Canada  6 – 3
(2–1, 1–2, 3–0)		  United States Montreal, Quebec
December 22, 1977 Czechoslovakia  5 – 4
(2–0, 2–3, 1–1)		  West Germany Quebec City, Quebec
December 23, 1977 Canada  8 – 0
(4–0, 4–0, 0–0)		  West Germany Cornwall, Ontario
December 23, 1977 United States  5 – 8
(1–1, 1–7, 3–0)		  Czechoslovakia Hull, Quebec
December 26, 1977 Canada  9 – 3
(4–2, 2–1, 3–0)		  Czechoslovakia Montreal, Quebec
December 26, 1977 West Germany  4 – 8
(1–1, 1–4, 2–3)		  United States Hull, Quebec

Championship round

Group B

Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
 United States 3 3 0 0 25 12 6
 Finland 3 2 1 0 19 10 4
 West Germany 3 1 2 0 12 12 2
  Switzerland 3 0 3 0 4 26 0
December 28, 1977 Finland  4 – 1
  West Germany Chicoutimi, Quebec
December 28, 1977 United States  11 – 1
   Switzerland Cornwall, Ontario
December 31, 1977 Finland  9 – 1
   Switzerland Cornwall, Ontario
December 31, 1977 United States  6 – 5
  West Germany Hull, Quebec
January 1, 1978 Finland  6 – 8
  United States Hull, Quebec
January 1, 1978 West Germany  6 – 2
   Switzerland Cornwall, Ontario

Group A

Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
 Soviet Union 3 3 0 0 14 3 6
 Sweden 3 1 1 1 7 11 3
 Canada 3 1 2 0 13 12 2
 Czechoslovakia 3 0 2 1 5 13 1
December 28, 1977 Canada  2 – 3
(2–0, 0–2, 0–1)		  Soviet Union Quebec City, Quebec
December 28, 1977 Sweden  1 – 1
(0-1, 0-0, 1-0)		  Czechoslovakia Montreal, Quebec
December 31, 1977 Canada  6 – 3
(1–1, 1–1, 4–1)		  Czechoslovakia Montreal, Quebec
December 31, 1977 Soviet Union  5 – 0
(1–0, 1–0, 3–0)		  Sweden Quebec City, Quebec
January 1, 1978 Canada  5 – 6
(2–2, 0–2, 3–2)		  Sweden Montreal, Quebec
January 1, 1978 Czechoslovakia  1 – 6
(1–2, 0–0, 0–4)		  Soviet Union Quebec City, Quebec

Gold medal game

January 3, 1978 1st Soviet Union  5 – 2
(2–1, 2–1, 1–0)		  Sweden 2nd Montreal, Quebec

Scoring leaders

Rank Player Country G A Pts
1 Wayne Gretzky  Canada 8 9 17
2 Victor Skurdyuk  Soviet Union 10 6 16
3 Sergei Makarov  Soviet Union 8 7 15
4 Bobby Crawford  United States 4 9 13
5 Jorma Sevon  Finland 7 5 12
Mark Green  United States 7 5 12
7 Timo Susi  Finland 7 3 10
Rainer Risku  Finland 7 3 10
Gerd Truntschka  West Germany 7 3 10
10 Wayne Babych  Canada 5 5 10

Tournament awards

IIHF Directorate Awards Media All-Star Team
Goaltender Soviet Union Alexander Tyznych Soviet Union Alexander Tyznych
Defencemen Soviet Union Viacheslav Fetisov Soviet Union Viacheslav Fetisov
Finland Risto Siltanen
Forwards Canada Wayne Gretzky Czechoslovakia Anton Šťastný
Canada Wayne Gretzky
Sweden Mats Näslund

References