IIHF World U20 Championship

IIHF World U20 Championship

Current season, competition or edition: 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
Sport	Ice hockey
Inaugural season	1974 (unofficial) 1977 (official)
No. of teams	10
Most recent champion(s)	Finland
Most titles	Canada (16 titles)
Official website	IIHF.com

The IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships (WJC), commonly known simply as the World Juniors, 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 competition's profile is particularly high in Canada; its stature has been credited to Canada's strong performance in the tournament (it has won the gold medal sixteen times since its inception), the role of hockey in Canadian culture, along with strong media coverage and fan attendance. As such, in recent years, nearly half of the tournaments have been held in Canadian cities, with the remainder being held in Europe and the United States.

Finland is the defending champion of the tournament, after having beaten Russia to win the 2016 edition.

History

The tournament was first held in 1977 (1974–1976 were not official tournaments).^[1] The tournament has been dominated by the teams from Russia/Soviet Union and Canada, together accounting for 29 of the 40 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 16, while USSR/Russia leads the all-time overall medal count with 32. 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 two bronze medals for Slovakia and one bronze medal for Switzerland.

When it began, the World Junior Championship was a relatively obscure tournament. It has since grown in prestige, particularly in Canada, where the tournament ranks as one of the most important events on the sports calendar and during the holiday season. Globe and Mail writer Bruce Dowbiggin credits TSN, along with Canada's strong performance at the tournament, for turning it from an obscure non-event when it acquired the rights in 1991 (which, however, also began growing in prominence due to the Punch-up in Piestany) to one of Canada's most beloved annual sports events, and at the same time cementing the link between Canadian nationalism and hockey, and inspiring the NHL's Winter Classic^[2][3] Sportsnet writer Stephen Brunt calls the attention paid to the tournament in Canada "overkill", but says it is understandable given the nationalistic feelings its stirs and its excellent timing and marketing.^[4] Based on increasing attendances for countries repeatedly hosting the event, the popularity of the tournament seems to be growing in other nations as well.

At editions of the tournament held in the country, Team Canada matches have consistently sold out, offering large profit guarantees to Hockey Canada and the IIHF.^[5] 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.^[6] Buffalo, New York, USA hosted the tournament in 2011.^[7]

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.^[3]

Punch-up in Piestany

One of the most infamous incidents in WJC history occurred in 1987 in Piestany, Czechoslovakia (today's Slovakia), 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.^[8]

Medalists

Recent results and upcoming tournaments

• (#) Number of tournaments won at the time.

Year	01 ! Gold	02 ! Silver	03 ! Bronze	Host city (cities)	Host country
2011	Russia/Soviet Union 04 ! Russia (4/13)	Canada	United States	Buffalo and Lewiston[9]	United States
2012	Sweden 04 ! Sweden (2)	Russia	Canada	Calgary and Edmonton	Canada
2013	United States 03 ! United States (3)	Sweden	Russia	Ufa	Russia
2014	Finland 03 ! Finland (3)	Sweden	Russia	Malmö	Sweden
2015	Canada 03 ! Canada (16)	Russia	Slovakia	Toronto and Montreal	Canada
2016	Finland 04 ! Finland (4)	Russia	United States	Helsinki	Finland
2017				Montreal and Toronto	Canada
2018				Buffalo	United States
2019					Canada
2020					Czech Republic
2021					Canada
2022					Russia

Participating countries

Sweden, Finland and Canada have participated in all 36 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships as well as the three unofficial World Junior Hockey Championships. USSR/CIS/Russia and Czechoslovakia/Czech-Republic have also participated in all IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, and the United States have participated in all except one (1976). 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). Slovakia was promoted to the top division for the 1996 Championships and have remained there since.

Starting with the 1996 tournament, competition was increased from an 8 round robin to the current 10 team format. Since then Switzerland has become a main participant.

Germany has been a frequent participant in the top pool, having played there roughly half the time in the past decade. Latvia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan have also each made a number of top division appearances since the early 1990s. Less frequent top pool appearances have been made by Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland and Ukraine.

Player eligibility

A player is eligible to play in the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if:^[10]

• the player is of the male sex;
• the player has his 20th birthday in the year of the tournament's ending (i.e. 1994 for 2014 tournament), and at latest, the fifth year after the tournament's ending (i.e. 1999 for 2014 tournament);
• the player is a citizen in the country he represents;
• the player is under the jurisdiction of a national association that is a member of the IIHF.

If a player who has never played in IIHF-organized competition wishes to switch national eligibility, he must have played in competitions for two consecutive years in the new country without playing in another country, as well as show his move to the new country's national association with an international transfer card. In case the player has previously played in IIHF-organized competition but wishes to switch national eligibility, he must have played in competitions for four consecutive years in the new country without playing in another country, he must show his move to the new country's national association with an international transfer card, as well as be a citizen of the new country. A player may only switch national eligibility once.^[11]

Tournament awards

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.

Broadcast coverage

The following television networks and websites broadcast World Junior Championship games on television or online.

TSN (Canada) is the IIHF's main broadcast partner for this tournament. TSN.ca carries all Canada, select preliminary round, and all medal round games live, as well as most games on demand after their completion.^[12]

Starting with the 2013 tournament, TSN.ca online coverage - both Live and On-Demand - is behind a paywall and only available from Canadian I.P. addresses.^[13]

Future tournaments

These tournaments have been announced. The tournament is held in Canada every second year.

Year	Host city (cities)	Host country
2017	Montreal/Toronto[14]	Canada[15]
2018	Buffalo	United States[16]
2019		Canada[15]
2020		Czech Republic [17]
2021		Canada[15]

See also

• Ice Hockey World Championships
• IIHF World U18 Championship
• IIHF World Ranking
• World Junior A Challenge
• World U-17 hockey challenge
• 2007 Super Series

Notes

General references

Further reading

• Gibson, Kevin (2003), The Official Book of Team Canada from Eh to Zed: The World Junior Championships, Trafford, ISBN 1-4120-0162-5 

External links

Media related to IIHF World U20 Championship at Wikimedia Commons

• IIHF World U20 all-time leading scorers at quanthockey.com
• www.worldjuniors2008.com - 2008 IIHF World U20 Championship - Pardubice, Liberec, Czech republic
• Result archive - Full results for men's, women's and junior championships since 1999 and medalists for all tournaments.
• Complete archive of all IIHF tournaments in French at passionhockey.com.

IIHF World U20 Championships Current champions (2016):  Finland 2017 Championship teams  Canada  Czech Republic  Denmark  Finland  Latvia  Russia  Slovakia  Sweden  Switzerland  United States Championships Soviet Union 1974 Canada 1975 Finland 1976 Czechoslovakia 1977 Canada 1978 Sweden 1979 Finland 1980 West Germany 1981 United States 1982 Soviet Union 1983 Sweden 1984 Finland 1985 Canada 1986 Czechoslovakia 1987 Soviet Union 1988 United States 1989 Finland 1990 Canada 1991 Germany 1992 Sweden 1993 Czech Republic 1994 Canada 1995 United States 1996 Switzerland 1997 Finland 1998 Canada 1999 Sweden 2000 Russia 2001 Czech Republic 2002 Canada 2003 Finland 2004 United States 2005 Canada 2006 Sweden 2007 Czech Republic 2008 Canada 2009 Canada 2010 United States 2011 Canada 2012 Russia 2013 Sweden 2014 Canada 2015 Finland 2016 Canada 2017 United States 2018 Canada 2019 Czech Republic 2020 Canada 2021 Finals 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Rosters 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Division I 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Division II 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Division III 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Medalists Directorate award winners Media All-Star Teams Players for Canada Punch-up in Piestany Team Canada New Year's Eve Game