Host country Canada Runner-up Canada | Teams 10 | |
 | ||
Dates December 26, 2016 – January 5, 2017 Venue(s) Centre Bell, Montreal
Air Canada Centre, Toronto (in 2 host cities) Champions United States (4th title) | ||
The 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship was the 41st World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (WJC or WM20). The main tournament was co-hosted in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario, in Canada. 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.
Contents
- Player eligibility
- Officials
- Format
- Preliminary round
- Scoring leaders
- Goaltending leaders
- Tournament awards
- Final standings
- Group A
- Group B
- Division III
- References
Group A preliminary games, as well as the medal rounds, were hosted by Centre Bell in Montreal. 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 Quebec, Ontario Hockey Federation, Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leafs Sports and 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:
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.
Officials
The IIHF selected 12 referees and 10 linesmen to officiate during the tournament:
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)
Scoring leaders
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)
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
All-star team
IIHF best player awards
Final standings
Note that due to the lack of playoff games for determining the spots 5–8, these spots were determined by the preliminary round records for each team.
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.
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
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.