2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2021 WJHC) were the 45th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It began on December 25, 2020, and ended with the gold medal game on January 5, 2021.[1] This marks the 14th time that Canada hosts the WJIHC. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, it was hosted behind closed doors in Edmonton, Alberta, with no spectators admitted for any game.

2021 IIHF World U20 Championship
Tournament details
Host country Canada
DatesDecember 25, 2020 – January 5, 2021
Teams10
Venue(s)Rogers Place (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions  United States (5th title)
Runner-up  Canada
Third place  Finland
Fourth place Russia
Tournament statistics
Matches played28
Goals scored176 (6.29 per match)
Scoring leader(s) Trevor Zegras
(18 points)
MVP Trevor Zegras
2020
2022

Background

On December 6, 2018, it was announced that Edmonton and Red Deer, in the province of Alberta, would be the host cities.[2] It was the third time Edmonton has hosted the tournament, after previously hosting in 1995 and 2012, and the first to use Rogers Place as a venue.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IIHF cancelled all lower-division U20 championships on September 17, 2020, and thus no promotion or relegation,[3] and announced that the top division tournament would be hosted solely by Edmonton using a "bubble" strategy similar to what has been used for the NHL's 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in Edmonton and Toronto. This decision resulted in the elimination of Red Deer as the secondary host city of the 2021 tournament. All games were held behind closed doors with no outside spectators. It was subsequently announced that Edmonton and Red Deer would host the 2022 tournament, and that Gothenburg, Sweden would be shifted from 2022 to 2024.[4][5]

On October 19, 2020, the full schedule for the tournament was announced, with play beginning on Christmas for the first time since the 2004–05 edition.[6]

On November 25, 2020, Hockey Canada suspended its selection camp and quarantined all players for 14 days (retroactive to November 23) due to two positive COVID-19 tests among participants.[7] Swedish head coach Tomas Montén, along with two assistant leaders and players William Eklund, Karl Henriksson, William Wallinder, and Albin Grewe from the Swedish preliminary roster, were forced to leave the team after testing positive for COVID-19 too close to the beginning of the championship.[8]

Team Canada captain Kirby Dach sustained an injury in Canada's pre-tournament game against Russia, and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament.[9]

Nine German players were quarantined under COVID-19 protocols through the first two games due to positive tests prior to the tournament.[10] No new COVID-19 positives were detected within the bubble through the conclusion of the tournament.[11]

Top division

Venue

Edmonton
Rogers Place
Capacity: 18,347

Officials

The following officials were assigned by the IIHF to officiate the 2021 World Junior Championships.[12] All officials are Canadian due to restrictions from COVID-19 pandemic on travel and ease of getting officials on site.[13]

Seeding

The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2020 tournament's final standings using the serpentine system. The IIHF announced the groups on January 6, 2019, with Austria being promoted from Division I A after winning the 2020 Division I A Tournament. [14]

Rosters

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC-7).

Group A

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Canada (H) 4 4 0 0 0 33 4 +29 12 Advance to Quarterfinals
2  Finland 4 3 0 0 1 16 8 +8 9
3  Germany 4 1 1 0 2 14 28 14 5
4  Slovakia 4 1 0 1 2 5 13 8 4
5   Switzerland 4 0 0 0 4 5 20 15 0
Source: IIHF
(H) Host.
December 25, 2020
12:00
Switzerland  0–1
(0–0, 0–0, 0–1)
 SlovakiaRogers Place, Edmonton
December 25, 2020
16:00
Germany 3–5
(0–2, 2–3, 1–0)
 FinlandRogers Place, Edmonton

December 26, 2020
16:00
Germany 2–16
(1–4, 0–7, 1–5)
 CanadaRogers Place, Edmonton

December 27, 2020
12:00
Finland 4–1
(1–1, 1–0, 2–0)
  SwitzerlandRogers Place, Edmonton
December 27, 2020
16:00
Slovakia 1–3
(0–1, 0–0, 1–2)
 CanadaRogers Place, Edmonton

December 28, 2020
19:30
Slovakia 3–4 OT
(1–1, 2–2, 0–0)
(OT: 0–1)
 GermanyRogers Place, Edmonton

December 29, 2020
16:00
Canada 10–0
(1–0, 4–0, 5–0)
  SwitzerlandRogers Place, Edmonton

December 30, 2020
12:00
Finland 6–0
(1–0, 2–0, 3–0)
 SlovakiaRogers Place, Edmonton
December 30, 2020
16:00
Switzerland  4–5
(0–3, 0–1, 4–1)
 GermanyRogers Place, Edmonton

December 31, 2020
16:00
Canada 4–1
(1–0, 2–0, 1–1)
 FinlandRogers Place, Edmonton

Group B

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States 4 3 0 0 1 25 5 +20 9 Advance to Quarterfinals
2  Russia 4 2 1 0 1 16 9 +7 8
3  Sweden 4 2 0 1 1 14 9 +5 7
4  Czech Republic 4 2 0 0 2 10 14 4 6
5  Austria 4 0 0 0 4 1 29 28 0
Source: IIHF
December 25, 2020
19:30
Russia 5–3
(1–1, 3–0, 1–2)
 United StatesRogers Place, Edmonton

December 26, 2020
12:00
Sweden 7–1
(1–1, 3–0, 3–0)
 Czech RepublicRogers Place, Edmonton
December 26, 2020
19:30
United States 11–0
(1–0, 6–0, 4–0)
 AustriaRogers Place, Edmonton

December 27, 2020
19:30
Czech Republic 2–0
(0–0, 1–0, 1–0)
 RussiaRogers Place, Edmonton

December 28, 2020
16:00
Austria 0–4
(0–1, 0–2, 0–1)
 SwedenRogers Place, Edmonton

December 29, 2020
12:00
United States 7–0
(0–0, 3–0, 4–0)
 Czech RepublicRogers Place, Edmonton
December 29, 2020
19:30
Austria 1–7
(0–4, 1–0, 0–3)
 RussiaRogers Place, Edmonton

December 30, 2020
19:30
Russia 4–3 OT
(2–1, 0–1, 1–1)
(OT: 1–0)
 SwedenRogers Place, Edmonton

December 31, 2020
12:00
Czech Republic 7–0
(0–0, 3–0, 4–0)
 AustriaRogers Place, Edmonton
December 31, 2020
19:30
Sweden 0–4
(0–2, 0–2, 0–0)
 United StatesRogers Place, Edmonton

Playoff round

Winning teams will be reseeded for the semi-finals in accordance with the following ranking:[15]

  1. higher position in the group
  2. higher number of points
  3. better goal difference
  4. higher number of goals scored for
  5. better seeding coming into the tournament (final placement at the 2020 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships).
RankTeamGroupPosPtsGDGFSeed
1 CanadaA112+29331
2 United StatesB19+20256
3 FinlandA29+8164
4 RussiaB28+7162
5 SwedenB37+5143
6 GermanyA35−14149
7 Czech RepublicB46–4107
8 SlovakiaA44–858

Bracket

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsGold Medal Game
          
January 2 – Edmonton
2B
 Russia
2
January 4 – Edmonton
3A
 Germany
1
1
 Canada
5
January 2 – Edmonton
4
 Russia
0
2A
 Finland
3
January 5 – Edmonton
3B
 Sweden
2
1
 Canada
0
January 2 – Edmonton
2
 United States
2
1A
 Canada
3
January 4 – Edmonton
4B
 Czech Republic
0
2
 United States
4
January 2 – Edmonton
3
 Finland
3 Bronze Medal Game
1B
 United States
5
January 5 – Edmonton
4A
 Slovakia
2
3
 Finland
4
4
 Russia
1

Quarterfinals

January 2, 2021
10:00
Russia 2–1
(1–0, 1–0, 0–1)
 GermanyRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

January 2, 2021
13:30
Finland 3–2
(0–2, 1–0, 2–0)
 SwedenRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

January 2, 2021
17:00
Canada 3–0
(2–0, 0–0, 1–0)
 Czech RepublicRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

January 2, 2021
20:30
United States 5–2
(1–0, 2–1, 2–1)
 SlovakiaRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

Semifinals

January 4, 2021
16:00
Canada 5–0
(3–0, 1–0, 1–0)
 RussiaRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

January 4, 2021
19:30
United States 4–3
(1–1, 2–0, 1–2)
 FinlandRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

Bronze medal game

January 5, 2021
15:30
Finland 4–1
(0–1, 1–0, 3–0)
 RussiaRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

Gold medal game

January 5, 2021
19:30
Canada 0–2
(0–1, 0–1, 0–0)
 United StatesRogers Place, Edmonton
Attendance: 0

Scoring leaders

Pos Player Country GP G A Pts +/− PIM
1Trevor Zegras United States771118+90
2Dylan Cozens Canada78816+116
3Anton Lundell Finland76410+74
4Tim Stützle Germany55510−48
5John-Jason Peterka Germany54610–52
6Florian Elias Germany5459−24
7Connor McMichael Canada7448+84
8Arthur Kaliyev United States7358+94
8Peyton Krebs Canada7358+84
8Alex Turcotte United States7358+82

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 SA Sv% SO
1Devon Levi Canada398:0750.7513996.403
2Spencer Knight United States332:1591.6314993.963
3Šimon Latkóczy Slovakia183:5482.6110292.161
4Kari Piiroinen Finland357:57132.1815291.451
5Yaroslav Askarov Russia360:11152.5017491.380

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

Final standings

Pos Grp Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1 B  United States 7 6 0 0 1 36 10 +26 18 Champions
2 A  Canada (H) 7 6 0 0 1 41 6 +35 18 Runners-up
3 A  Finland 7 5 0 0 2 26 15 +11 15 Third place
4 B  Russia 7 3 1 0 3 19 19 0 11 Fourth place
5 B  Sweden 5 2 0 1 2 16 12 +4 7 Eliminated in
Quarterfinals
6 A  Germany 5 1 1 0 3 15 30 15 5
7 B  Czech Republic 5 2 0 0 3 10 17 7 6
8 A  Slovakia 5 1 0 1 3 7 18 11 4
9 A   Switzerland 4 0 0 0 4 5 20 15 0 Eliminated in
Preliminary round
10 B  Austria 4 0 0 0 4 1 29 28 0
Source: IIHF
(H) Host.

Awards

Source: IIHF

Source: IIHF

Division I

Group A

The tournament would have been held in Hørsholm, Denmark, from December 13 to 19, 2020.[16]

Group B

The tournament would have been held in Tallinn, Estonia, from February 10 to 17, 2021.[16]

Division II

Group A

The tournament would have been held in Brașov, Romania, from February 8 to 14, 2021.[16]

Group B

The tournament would have been held in Belgrade, Serbia, from February 8 to 14, 2021.[16]

Division III

The tournament would have been held in Mexico City, Mexico, from January 10 to 17, 2021.[16]

References

  1. "Schedule". hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  2. "2021 World Juniors in Alberta". IIHF. December 7, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  3. Aykroyd, Lucas (December 25, 2020). "2021 tournament preview". IIHF. Retrieved December 30, 2020. Yet since no team will be relegated this year, the Austrians can play without pressure...
  4. "World Juniors will be hosted in an Edmonton bubble: TSN". Edmonton. September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  5. "IIHF announces 2021 world juniors will be played in Edmonton bubble". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  6. "Canada-Finland to headline New Year's Eve games at 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship". hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  7. "Hockey Canada pauses world junior selection camp for two weeks due to COVID-19 – Sportsnet.ca". Canadian Press. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  8. Kvarnström, Jonathan (December 8, 2020). "Juniorkronornas förbundskapten har covid-19 – tvingas avstå JVM" [The junior crowns' head coach has Covid-19 – forced to waive junior championships] (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  9. "Team Canada captain Kirby Dach to miss remainder of world juniors with injury". Sportsnet. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  10. "One more Germany player tests positive". TSN. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  11. "No new positive COVID-19 tests inside world junior hockey championship bubble: IIHF". Times Colonist. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  12. "Competition officials". IIHF. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  13. "Tournament Preview Show". 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. 2020. TSN.
  14. Merk, Martin. "Groups for World Juniors known". IIHF.com. IIHF. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  15. "Tournament Format". IIHF. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  16. "World Championships – World Men U20". IIHF. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
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