World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
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The World Junior Ice Hockey Championship, (WJHC, formally the IIHF World U-20 Hockey Championship) is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation 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 "A pool", 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 2006 tournament was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the host nation winning the championship. The 2007 tournament will be held in Leksand and Mora, Sweden from December 26, 2006 - January 5, 2007.
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[edit] History
First held in 1974 as a relatively obscure tournament, the WJHC's have grown in prestige, particularly in Canada, where the tournament ranks as one of the most important on the hockey calendar, and several cities compete for the right to host the tournament, offering large profit guarantees to Hockey Canada. [1]
One of the most infamous incidents in WJHC history occurred in 1987 in Piestany, Czechoslovakia where a massive bench clearing brawl between Canada and the Soviet Union led to both teams being disqualified from the tournament. 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. It began when Pavel Kostichkin took a two handed slash at Theoren Fleury beginning the melee. The USSR's Evgeny Davydov was the first player off the bench, leading to both benches clearing. The officials could not break up the fight so they left the ice and eventually tried turning out the arena lights. The brawl lasted for 20 minutes. Afterwards, Soviet hockey official Anatoly Kastriukov claimed a trainer for the Canadian team had fuelled hostilities by coming over to the Soviet bench and pummelling one of their assistant coaches. The Canadians maintained that the Soviets had started the brawl by leaving their bench first. Neither team was allowed to attend the players' banquet at the end of the tournament.[2]
[edit] Member nations
Thirty-nine nations compete annually in four divisions:
[edit] A pool
The A pool comprises the top ten hockey nations in the world. For the 2007 tournament, the competitors will be:
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[edit] Division I
Twelve teams comprise Division I. They are broken into two groups, with the winner of each group gaining promotion to the A pool for the following year.
[edit] Division II
Twelve teams comprise Division II. They are also broken into two groups competing to advance into Division I.
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[edit] Division III
Division III is made up of five teams. The top two in each years tournament are promoted to Division II.
Armenia
Bulgaria
China (relegated to Division III from 2006 tournament)
New Zealand (relegated to Division III from 2006 tournament)
Turkey
[edit] IIHF World Junior Champions
[edit] List of Champions
Sorted by Gold
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Canada |
12 | 8 | 6 | 26 |
 Soviet Union |
11 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
 Russia |
3 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
 Finland |
2 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
 Czech Republic |
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
 Sweden |
1 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
 United States |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
 CIS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Czechoslovakia |
0 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
 Slovakia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Switzerland |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
[edit] See also
- Ice Hockey World Championships
- IIHF World U18 Championships
- IIHF World Ranking
- World U-17 hockey challenge
[edit] References
- IIHF official site
- Hockey Canada's WJHC page
- tsn.ca WJHC page
- World Juniors Canadian Team Sweat Tests
[edit] External links
- Result archive - Full results for men's, women's and junior championships since 1999 and medalists for all tournaments.
- Hockey Almanac
- Müller, Stephan : International Ice Hockey Encyclopedia 1904-2005 / BoD GmbH Norderstedt, 2005 ISBN 3-8334-4189-5
