Canada national junior hockey team

The Canadian national under 20 men's ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team in Canada. The team represents Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Junior Hockey Championship, held annually every December and January. The team also faced their Russian counterparts at the 2007 Super Series, an eight game series commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series.

There are a total of 357,962 junior hockey players in Canada. The head coach for the 2009 tournament will be Benoit Groulx, who coaches the Gatineau Olympiques in the QMJHL. His assistants are Dave Cameron (Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (OHL)) and Willie Desjardins (Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)).cite web|url=http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=cp-hky_world_jr_coach&prov=cp&type=lgns|title=Benoit Groulx the man to lead Canada in bid for gold No. 5|last=Spencer|first=Donna|date=2008-06-20|publisher=The Canadian Press|accessdate=2008-06-24]

The national junior team is extremely popular in Canada, even more so than the men's senior team which plays at the World Championships. World Junior events in Canada are often sold out, television ratings are extremely high, and even events in Europe are well attended by a contingent of Canadian fans.

The Canadian junior team is one of hte most successful in the world. Its success can be traced back to the formation of the "Program of Excellence" in 1982 by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, which created the first true national junior team. Since that time, Canada has won 14 of 26 world junior championships, including the last four.

History

In 1973, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) created an invitation-only junior tournament for the top ice hockey nations in the world. Held in late December 1973 and early January 1974, it featured six teams: the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Finland, the United States and Canada. For that first tournament, The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) wanted to send the defending Memorial Cup champion Toronto Marlboros to represent Canada. That team declined, so instead the Peterborough Petes, the runner up in the Ontario Hockey Association was sent. [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=10] Despite being the only club team in the tournament, [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=11] the Petes finished third. [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=12]

The same six teams were invited to the 1975 tournament which was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. An all-star team from the Western Canada Hockey League represented Canada and finished second. [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=14–15] Canada was again represented by a club team, the Sherbrooke Beavers, in 1976, again finishing second. [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=17–19]

World Junior Championships

The 1977 tournament was the first formal World Junior Championship, featuring the top eight junior teams in the world. Once again, the CAHA sent a club team, the defending Memorial Cup champion St. Catharines Fincups. [Harvnb|Podnieks|1998|p=21] The Canadians won the silver medal in this tournament, posting a 5–1–1 record in the round robin event.cite web |url=http://www.tsn.ca/World_jrs/feature/?fid=3224 |title=WJHC History 1977–1981 |accessdate=2008-08-17 |publisher=TSN]

Roster

Roster at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

References

General

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Footnotes