2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Explained

Tourney Name:IIHF World U20 Championship
Year:2018
Size:250px
Country:United States
City:Buffalo
Dates:December 26, 2017 – January 5, 2018
Num Teams:10
Venues:KeyBank Center
HarborCenter
New Era Field[1]
Cities:2
Winners:CAN
Count:17
Second:SWE
Third:USA
Fourth:CZE
Games:30
Goals:216
Attendance:211210
Scoring Leader: Casey Mittelstadt
Points:11
Mvp: Casey Mittelstadt
Prevseason:2017
Nextseason:2019

The 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship was the 42nd edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, and was hosted by the city of Buffalo, New York[2] [3] [4] at KeyBank Center and HarborCenter. It opened on December 26, 2017 and closed with the gold medal game on January 5, 2018. It was the sixth time that the United States has hosted the WJIHC, and the second time that Buffalo has done so, previously hosting in 2011.

A preliminary round game between Canada and the United States was played outdoors at New Era Field in nearby Orchard Park, New York on December 29, 2017. It was the second outdoor game held at any top-level IIHF world championship, the first being the opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship, and the first one held at a junior level.[5] [6]

Top Division

Venues

BuffaloOrchard Park
KeyBank Center
Capacity: 19,070
KeyBank Rink at HarborCenter
Capacity: 1,800
New Era Field
Capacity: 71,870

Host selection

On July 28, 2015, USA Hockey named the five initial finalists for hosting the event:[7]

Chicago and Tampa were eliminated on September 15.[8] Buffalo was chosen as the host site on December 3, with a formal announcement on December 4.[9]

Match officials

The following officials were assigned by the International Ice Hockey Federation to officiate the 2018 World Junior Championship.[10]

Referees

Linesmen

Rosters

See main article: 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters.

Format

The preliminary round was a two group of five teams each internal round-robin format, followed by a three-round playoff. In the round-robin, two points were allotted for a win, and one additional point for a regulation win. One point was allotted for an overtime or game winning shots loss.

The four highest-ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advanced to quarterfinals while the last-placed team from each group played a best-of-three series, the loser relegated to Division IA for 2019. All other teams will retain their Top Division status.[11]

Preliminary round

All times are local. (Eastern Standard TimeUTC-5)

Group B

Relegation round

Note: was relegated to the 2019 Division I A

Playoff round

Final

Statistics

Scoring leaders

width=30Poswidth=150Playerwidth=120Countrywidth=20GPwidth=20Gwidth=20Awidth=30Ptswidth=30+/−width=30PIM
1 7 4 7 11 +8 2
2 7 3 8 11 −5 0
3 7 9 1 10 +2 4
4 7 3 7 10 +2 0
5 7 4 5 9 +3 0
6 7 3 6 9 +6 2
7 7 7 1 8 -4 2
8 5 5 3 8 +7 2
9 7 3 5 8 +5 0
10 6 2 6 8 −1 4
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes
Source: IIHF [12]

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

width=30Poswidth=150Playerwidth=120Countrywidth=20TOIwidth=20GAwidth=20GAAwidth=20Sv%width=20SO
1 365:00 11 1.81 92.95 1
2 240:00 11 2.75 92.86 0
3 364:36 11 1.81 92.41 0
4 262:30 12 2.74 90.40 0
5 207:22 17 4.92 88.74 0
TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF[13]

Tournament awards

Most Valuable Player

Casey Mittelstadt

All-star team

IIHF best player awards

Final standings

Division I

See main article: 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division I.

Division I A

The Division I A tournament was played in Courchevel and Méribel, France, from December 10 to 16, 2017.[14] [15]

Division I B

The Division I B tournament was played in Bled, Slovenia, from December 9 to 15, 2017.[16] [17]

Division II

See main article: 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division II.

Division II A

The Division II A tournament was played in Dumfries, United Kingdom, from December 10 to 16, 2017.[18] [19]

Division II B

The Division II B tournament was played in Belgrade, Serbia, from January 10 to 16, 2018.[20] [21]

Division III

See main article: 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division III.

Main tournament

The Division III main tournament was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, from January 22 to 28, 2018.[22] [23]

Qualification

The Division III qualification tournament was played in Cape Town, South Africa, from February 5 to 7, 2018.[24]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sources: Outdoor game planned for 2018 World Juniors in Buffalo - TSN.ca. 3 December 2015.
  2. http://2018.worldjunior.hockey 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship official website
  3. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/420/ 2018 Top Division statistics
  4. Web site: USA Hockey Selects Buffalo Sabres as Host of 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship. December 4, 2015. January 3, 2016. Sabres.com.
  5. Web site: Canada faces U.S. outdoors at 2018 WJC. TSN.ca. 28 October 2016. Bell Media. 28 October 2016.
  6. Web site: Outdoor games . . 26 April 2018.
  7. Web site: Finalists Named for Hosting 2018 IIHF World Juniors. July 28, 2015. July 28, 2015. USA Hockey.
  8. Web site: Host Finalists Announced for 2018 World Juniors. September 15, 2015. September 15, 2015. USA Hockey.
  9. Web site: AP sources: Buffalo to host 2018 World Jr. Hockey championships and feature outdoor game . 2015-12-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151208185446/http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/14c4e4c9ee6a44589225bc1863c6b30e/HKO--World-Junior-Championship-Buffalo . 2015-12-08 . dead .
  10. Web site: Assignments . 2017-11-27 . 2017-12-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042639/http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/sport/officials/assignments/#c34618 . . dead .
  11. Web site: New format for U18, U20 Worlds . 2012-05-29 . 2011-05-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120702204030/http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/recap/7006.html . . July 2, 2012 .
  12. Web site: Scoring Leaders . PDF . . 5 January 2018.
  13. Web site: Goalkeepers . . January 5, 2018 .
  14. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm20ia 2018 Division I A official website
  15. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/644/ 2018 Division I A statistics
  16. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm20ib 2018 Division I B official website
  17. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/645/ 2018 Division I B statistics
  18. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm20iia 2018 Division II A official website
  19. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/646/ 2018 Division II A statistics
  20. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm20iib 2018 Division II B official website
  21. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/647/ 2018 Division II B statistics
  22. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm20iii 2018 Division III (main tournament) official website
  23. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/648/ 2018 Division III (main tournament) statistics
  24. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/649/ 2018 Division III (qualification tournament) statistics