IIHF World U20 Championship

The International Ice Hockey Federation World Under 20 Championship (colloquially known as the World Junior Hockey Championship, WJHC) 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 '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 2008 event took place in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic, with Canada winning the tournament for the fourth straight year. The 2009 championship is scheduled to take place in Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario.

History

First held in 1977 (1974-1976 were not official tournaments) [ [http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/all-medallists/u20.html] ] 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 events on the hockey calendar. Canada typically hosts the tournament every three to four years, consistently selling out Team Canada games, offering large profit guarantees to Hockey Canada. [ [http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_story/?ID=164709&hubname=world_jrs] ] Canada is, however, scheduled to host at a more frequent rate, including three of the next four tournaments (Ottawa in 2009, Saskatchewan in 2010, and in Alberta in 2012). [ [http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/story/?id=247776&lid=sublink02&lpos=headlines_canadian_hockey] ]

Historically, the tournament has been dominated by the Soviet Union/Russia and Canada, together accounting for 25 of the 32 overall gold medals awarded. The Soviets won the inaugural four official tournaments, while the Canadians would put together five straight championships between 1993 and 1997, and are currently on a four-year run spanning 2004 and 2008. Canada leads the all-time gold medal count with 14, while the Soviets/Russians lead the all-time overall medal count with 26. Head-to-head matches between these two countries are always much-hyped.

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. Most notably, it has featured Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky (1978) and Mario Lemieux (1983), pending Hall of Famers Doug Gilmour and Steve Yzerman (1983), and present NHL superstars Jarome Iginla (1996), Roberto Luongo (1999), Alexander Ovechkin (2005), and Sidney Crosby (2005), among many others.

Punch-up in Pietstany

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 Pavel Kostichkin took a two handed slash at Theoren Fleury. The Soviet Union's Evgeny Davydov came off the bench, eventually leading to both benches clearing. The officials, unable to break up the fight, walked off the ice and eventually tried shutting off the arena lights, but the brawl lasted for 20 minutes before the International Ice Hockey Federation declared the game null and void. A 35 minute emergency meeting was held, resulting in the delegates voting 7-1 to disqualify both teams from the tournament — the sole dissenter being Canadian Dennis McDonald. Both teams were also banned from attending the players' banquet at the end of 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. 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. [ [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-41-1984-12742-10/on_this_day/sports/twt] ]

Medalists

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.

ee also

*Ice Hockey World Championships
*IIHF World U18 Championships
*IIHF World Ranking
*World U-17 hockey challenge
*2007 Super Series

References

Specific

General
* [http://www.iihf.com/hockey/tournam/tournaments.htm# IIHF official site]
* [http://www.hockeycanada.ca/3/5/6/7/index1.shtml Hockey Canada's WJHC page]
* [http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/ tsn.ca WJHC page]

External links

* [http://www.worldjuniors2008.com www.worldjuniors2008.com] - 2008 IIHF World U20 Championship - Pardubice, Liberec, Czech republic
* [http://www.iihf.com/archive/archive.htm Result archive] - Full results for men's, women's and junior championships since 1999 and medalists for all tournaments.
* [http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugout/4128/49INTERNATIONAL.html Hockey Almanac]
* Müller, Stephan : International Ice Hockey Encyclopedia 1904-2005 / BoD GmbH Norderstedt, 2005 ISBN 3-8334-4189-5