The 1998 IIHF European U18 Championship was the thirty-first playing of the IIHF European Junior Championships.
Contents
Group A
Played April 11 to the 19th in Malung and Mora, Sweden. The hosts led by twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, won their tenth European Junior title.
First round
Final round
The Czechs had the very unfortunate distinction of finishing tied for first, and actually finishing completely out of the medals. Coming into the final game against the Russians, the Swedes could lose or tie, and finish fourth, win by one or two goals and finish third, win by three and finish second, or win by four or more and be the champions. They led five to one after two, and played a scoreless third to clinch gold.
Tournament awards
Group B
Played April 5 to the 12th in Füssen and Memmingen Germany. The hosts did not dominate, but still won all their games, to return to the top level.
First round
Final round
Group C
Played March 16 to the 20th in Zagreb Croatia. On final day the host Croats had to face Yugoslavia to determine who would be relegated. Because of the expansion of the top tier to ten teams, it did not matter in the end, but it was a very tense affair at the time.
First round
Placing round
Group D
Played from March 3 to the 9th in Luxembourg. Two new entrants participated this year, the hosts, and Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs switched from playing in the Asian junior tournament, to the European. There was no shadow of a doubt that they were a much better team than was suited for this level, scoring over 150 goals in five games. The Dutch were the only ones to lose by less than fifteen to the Kazakhs. Leading the team, a young Nikolai Antropov scored fifty-four points. Considering that the South Koreans scored 92 in one game in the Asian tournament, it is hard to imagine just how many more points Antropov could have scored if they had stayed put.