2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

2017 IIHF World U20 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Canada
Dates	December 26, 2016 – January 5, 2017
Teams	10
Venue(s)	Bell Centre, Montreal Air Canada Centre, Toronto (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (4th title)
Runner-up	Canada
Third place	Russia
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played	30
Goals scored	183 (6.1 per match)
Attendance	257,882 (8,596 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Kirill Kaprizov (12 points)
MVP	Thomas Chabot
Website	2017 World Juniors
← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 41st edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship (WJC or WM20). The main tournament was co-hosted by the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. This was the twelfth championship that Canada had hosted. Montreal and Toronto also jointly hosted the 2015 edition. The tournament consisted of 30 games between 10 nations.

Group A preliminary games, as well as the medal rounds, were hosted by the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Air Canada Centre in Toronto hosted preliminaries in Group B, including the host country of Canada. The tournament also initiated several year-long celebrations, the 375th anniversary of Montreal's founding; the 100th anniversary of the National Hockey League's founding in Montreal; the 100th anniversary of Hockey Canada's origins; the 50th anniversary of Montreal's Expo 67; the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation; and the 100th anniversary of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs had planned to make the WJHC the centrepiece of their 100th-anniversary celebrations.

The event was organized by Hockey Canada, Hockey Québec, Ontario Hockey Federation, Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Evenko. Montreal and Quebec provided C$1 million and C$2 million in funding, respectively, for both the 2015 and 2017 editions.

For the first time in the history of the event, the defending champion (Finland) had to compete in the relegation round. Latvia was relegated to Division I-A for 2018 by merit of their tenth-place finish.

Player eligibility

A player was eligible to play in the 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if:

• the player was of male gender;
• the player was born at the earliest in 1997, and at the latest, in 2002;
• the player was a citizen in the country he represented;
• the player was under the jurisdiction of a national association that was 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.

Top Division

Venues

Montreal	Montreal Toronto		Toronto
Bell Centre Capacity: 21,287			Air Canada Centre Capacity: 18,819
			150px

Officials

The International Ice Hockey Federation selected 12 referees and 10 linesmen to officiate during the tournament:

Referees

• Tobias Björk
• Darcy Burchell
• Jan Hribik
• Jozef Kubus
• Mark Lemelin
• Marcus Linde
• Marian Rohatsch
• Anssi Salonen
• Brett Sheva
• Maxim Sidorenko
• Robin Šír
• Daniel Stricker

Linesmen

• Jimmy Dahmen
• Jake Davis
• Nicolas Fluri
• Dmitry Golyak
• Henrik Haurum
• Lukas Kohlmuller
• Yakov Paley
• Libor Suchanek
• Sakari Suominen
• Nathan Vanoosten

Rosters

Main article: 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters

Format

The four best ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advanced to the quarterfinals, while the last-placed team from both groups played a relegation round in a best-of-three format to determine the relegated team.

Preliminary round

All times are local. (Eastern Standard Time – UTC−5)

Relegation

Note: Latvia was relegated for the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

1A

Sweden

8

4B

Slovakia

3

1A

Sweden

2

2B

Canada

5

2B

Canada

5

3A

Czech Republic

3

2B

Canada

4

1B

United States

5

2A

Denmark

0

3B

Russia

4

3B

Russia

3

Bronze medal game

1B

United States

4

1B

United States

3

1A

Sweden

1

4A

Switzerland

2

3B

Russia

2

Statistics

Scoring leaders

Pos	Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
1	Kirill Kaprizov	Russia	7	9	3	12	+7	2
2	Alexander Nylander	Sweden	7	5	7	12	+7	0
3	Clayton Keller	United States	7	3	8	11	+3	2
4	Thomas Chabot	Canada	7	4	6	10	+4	8
5	Dylan Strome	Canada	7	3	7	10	+1	0
6	Mikhail Vorobyev	Russia	7	0	10	10	+6	4
7	Joel Eriksson Ek	Sweden	7	6	3	9	+8	4
8	Colin White	United States	7	7	1	8	+5	4
9	Mathew Barzal	Canada	7	3	5	8	+4	4
9	Jordan Greenway	United States	7	3	5	8	+3	2

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Pos	Player	Country	TOI	GA	GAA	Sv%	SO
1	Veini Vehviläinen	Finland	317:57	8	1.51	93.10	1
2	Ilya Samsonov	Russia	370:11	13	2.11	92.97	2
3	Kasper Krog	Denmark	165:00	9	3.27	91.96	0
4	Tyler Parsons	United States	330:00	12	2.18	91.67	0
5	Felix Sandström	Sweden	359:50	13	2.17	91.45	0

TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF

Tournament awards

Reference: [1] Most Valuable Player

• Defenceman: Thomas Chabot

All-star team

• Goaltender: Ilya Samsonov
• Defencemen: Thomas Chabot, Charlie McAvoy
• Forwards: Kirill Kaprizov, Alexander Nylander, Clayton Keller

IIHF best player awards

• Goaltender: Felix Sandström
• Defenceman: Thomas Chabot
• Forward: Kirill Kaprizov

Division I

Main article: 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division I

Group A

The tournament was held in Bremerhaven, Germany from 11–17 December 2016.

Group B

The tournament was held in Budapest, Hungary from 11–17 December 2016. The hosts, entering as the bottom seed, won promotion for the second year in a row.

Division II

Main article: 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division II

Group A

The tournament was held in Tallinn, Estonia from 11–17 December 2016.

Group B

The tournament was held in Logroño, Spain from 7–13 January 2017.

Division III

Main article: 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division III

The tournament was held in Dunedin, New Zealand from 16–22 January 2017. Turkey defeated China in the Gold medal game to achieve promotion to Division II. Chinese Taipei returned to play for the first time since 2011, losing all but their final game.

	Team
1st	Turkey
2nd	China
3rd	Iceland
4th	New Zealand
5th	Israel
6th	Bulgaria
7th	Chinese Taipei
8th	South Africa

See also

• 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship when Toronto & Montreal co-hosted
• 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships when Calgary & Edmonton co-hosted
• 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships when Saskatoon & Regina co-hosted
• 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships when Ottawa hosted

External links

• Official website