1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1996 WJHC) was the 20th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, hosted in Massachusetts, United States. The tournament was won by Canada—defeating Sweden 4–1 in the gold-medal game—earning Canada their fourth straight gold medal and ninth overall, tying the Soviet team's record in both regards.

1996 IIHF World Junior Championship

Tournament details
Host country	United States
Venue(s)	7 (in 6[1] host cities)
Dates	December 26, 1995 – January 4, 1996
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	Canada (9th title)
Runners-up	Sweden
Third place	Russia
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played	31
Goals scored	218 (7.03 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Jarome Iginla (12 points)
← 1995 1997 →

Attendance was less than spectacular for the championships in the United States. It would be the last time the US would host the tournament until 2005 in Grand Forks.

Among this edition of the tournament's future NHL stars were Milan Hejduk, Miikka Kiprusoff, Chris Drury, Marco Sturm, José Théodore, Mattias Öhlund, Daymond Langkow, Sergei Samsonov and tournament scoring leader Jarome Iginla.

This was the first World Juniors tournament to implement the two groups, round-robin/preliminaries and playoff format. It was also Slovakia's first appearance at the top level in the junior tournament.

Round robin

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada	4	4	0	0	19	4	+15	8
United States	4	2	2	0	13	17	−4	4
Finland	4	2	2	0	14	10	+4	4
Switzerland	4	1	3	0	10	14	−4	2
Ukraine	4	1	3	0	9	20	−11	2

Source: Hockey Canada

December 26, 1995

Canada

6–1

United States

Centrum in Worcester, Worcester

December 26, 1995

Finland

5–1

Switzerland

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

December 27, 1995

Canada

2–1

Switzerland

Mullins Center, Amherst

December 27, 1995

Ukraine

4–3

United States

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 28, 1995

Finland

4–1

Ukraine

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 29, 1995

Canada

3–1

Finland

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 29, 1995

United States

4–3

Switzerland

Springfield Civic Center, Springfield

December 30, 1995

Switzerland

5–3

Ukraine

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

December 31, 1995

Canada

8–1

Ukraine

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 31, 1995

United States

5–4

Finland

Mullins Center, Amherst

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Czech Republic	4	2	0	2	15	10	+5	6
Russia	4	2	1	1	19	12	+7	5
Sweden	4	2	1	1	14	7	+7	5
Slovakia	4	0	1	3	11	17	−6	3
Germany	4	0	3	1	11	24	−13	1

Source: Hockey Canada

December 26, 1995

Czech Republic

5–3

Russia

Mullins Center, Amherst

December 26, 1995

Sweden

6–0

Slovakia

Centrum in Worcester, Worcester

December 27, 1995

Slovakia

3–3

Russia

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 27, 1995

Czech Republic

6–3

Germany

Mullins Center, Amherst

December 28, 1995

Sweden

6–2

Germany

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 29, 1995

Czech Republic

4–4

Slovakia

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 29, 1995

Russia

5–2

Sweden

Springfield Civic Center, Springfield

December 30, 1995

Germany

4–4

Slovakia

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

December 31, 1995

Czech Republic

0–0

Sweden

Matthews Arena, Boston

December 31, 1995

Russia

8–2

Germany

Mullins Center, Amherst

Relegation round

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Slovakia	3	2	0	1	17	10	+7	5
Germany	3	1	0	2	12	7	+5	4
Switzerland	3	1	1	1	11	13	−2	3
Ukraine	3	0	3	0	6	16	−10	0

Source: Hockey Canada

December 30, 1995

Switzerland

5–3

Ukraine

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

December 30, 1995

Germany

4–4

Slovakia

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

January 2, 1996

Switzerland

3–3

Germany

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

January 2, 1996

Ukraine

3–6

Slovakia

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

January 3, 1996

Switzerland

3–7

Slovakia

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

January 3, 1996

Ukraine

0–5

Germany

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

 Ukraine was relegated for the 1997 World Junior Championships.

Playoffs

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

QF1

Sweden

8

A2

United States

0

B1

Czech Republic

2

B3

Sweden

3

SF1

Sweden

1

SF2

Canada

4

QF2

Russia

3

B2

Russia

6

A1

Canada

4

A3

Finland

2

Third place

QF1

Czech Republic

1

QF2

Russia

4

Quarterfinals

January 1, 1996 13:00

United States

0–3 (0–1, 0–1, 0–1)

Sweden

Mullins Center, Amherst

	Brian Boucher	Goalies	Per-Ragnar Bergkvist
	0–1 10:12 – Ekman 0–2 38:45 – Molin 0–3 59:21 – Davidsson
	24	Shots	31

January 1, 1996 17:00

Russia

6–2 (0–1, 5–1, 1–0)

Finland

Mullins Center, Amherst

Semifinals

January 3, 1996 15:30

Canada

4–3 (1–1, 2–1, 1–1)

Russia

Matthews Arena, Boston Attendance: 2,500 (approx.)

	José Theodore	Goalies	Alexei Yegorov
	Podollan (Gauthier) (PP) – 8:41 1–0 1–1 11:24 – Morozov (Shafikov, Nabokov) (PP) Watt (Redden, Dube) (PP) – 31:11 2–1 Podollan (Botterill, Holland) – 32:43 3–1 3–2 35:39 – Petrochinin (Nabokov) Iginla (SH) – 46:40 4–2 4–3 50:34 – Morozov (Nabokov, Shafikov) (PP)
	28	Shots	49

January 3, 1996 18:30

Sweden

8–2 (0–0, 6–1, 2–1)

Czech Republic

Matthews Arena, Boston

5th place game

January 4, 1996 12:00

Finland

7–8 (3–1, 3–4, 1–2, 0–1)

United States

New England Sports Center, Marlborough

	Vesa Toskala	Goalies	Brian Boucher
	Miika Elomo – 0:58 1–0 1–1 8:41 – Swanson (Farkas, Smith) Riihijärvi (Salpa, Kuki) – 13:26 2–1 Salonen (Lydman, Jokinen) – 15:22 3–1 3–2 22:35 – Drury (Sylvia) Niemi (Jokinen) – 25:08 4–2 4–3 29:52 – Cullen (Drury, Sylvia) 4–4 30:08 – York (Swanson, Clymer) 4–5 10:41 – Herr (Kealty) Niemi (Elomo, Lotvonen) – 33:41 5–5 Kuki (Salpa) – 36:43 6–5 Elomo (Jokinen) – 43:59 7–5 7–6 52:32 – Cullen (Parrish) 7–7 53:21 – Reasoner (Swanson, Sylvia) 7–8 63:02 – McCarthy (Reasoner)
	17	Shots	44

Bronze medal game

January 4, 1996 15:30

Czech Republic

1–4 (1–0, 0–2, 0–2)

Russia

Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill

	Tomáš Vokoun	Goalies	Alexei Yegorov
	Varada (Kubina) – 1:40 1–0 1–1 27:42 – Morozov (Ryabykin, Shafikov) 1–2 39:18 – Samsonov (Klevakin, Yepanchintsev) 1–3 43:11 – Petrunin (Korolyuk) 1–4 46:01 – Shafikov (Zyuzin)
	42	Shots	21

Gold medal game

January 4, 1996 19:30

Sweden

1–4 (1–1, 0–2, 0–1)

Canada

Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill Attendance: 5,781

	Per-Ragnar Bergkvist	Goalies	José Théodore
	0–1 1:36 – Langkow (Domenichelli, Iginla) Nilson – 8:41 1–1 1–2 33:00 – Langkow (Iginla) 1–3 34:12 – Domenichelli (Langkow) 1–4 48:12 – McCauley (Wright, Botterill)
	33	Shots	35

Scoring leaders

Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts
Jarome Iginla	Canada	6	5	7	12
Florian Keller	Germany	6	4	8	12
Marco Sturm	Germany	6	4	6	10
Miika Elomo	Finland	6	4	5	9
Johan Davidsson	Sweden	7	3	6	9
Ruslan Shafikov	Russia	7	1	8	9
Alexei Morozov	Russia	7	5	3	8
Juho Jokinen	Finland	6	3	5	8
Dmitri Nabokov	Russia	7	3	5	8
Marcus Nilson	Sweden	7	3	5	8

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Player	Country	MINS	GA	GAA	SO	W	L	T
José Théodore	Canada	240	6	1.50	0	4	0	0
Per-Ragnar Bergkvist	Sweden	240	6	1.50	1	2	1	1
Magnus Wennström	Sweden	180	7	2.33	0	2	1	1
Alexei Yegorov	Russia	358.9	17	2.84	0	3	2	1
Miikka Kiprusoff	Finland	159.3	9	3.39	0	1	2	0

Tournament awards

All-star team^[2]

• Goaltender: José Théodore
• Defencemen: Nolan Baumgartner, Mattias Öhlund
• Forwards: Jarome Iginla, Johan Davidsson, Alexei Morozov

IIHF best player awards

• Goaltender: José Théodore
• Defenceman: Mattias Öhlund
• Forward: Jarome Iginla

Final standings

	Team
	Canada
	Sweden
	Russia
4th	Czech Republic
5th	United States
6th	Finland
7th	Slovakia
8th	Germany
9th	Switzerland
10th	Ukraine

Pool B

The second tier was held in Sosnowiec and Tychy, Poland, from December 28 to January 4. Two groups of four played round robins, and then the top three played each of the top three teams from the other group. All scores carried forward except the results against the lone eliminated team from each group.

Preliminary round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Poland	3	3	0	0	32	2	+30	6			7–2	9–0	16–0
Hungary	3	2	1	0	14	12	+2	4		2–7		7–1	5–4
Japan	3	1	2	0	4	17	−13	2		0–9	1–7		3–1
Austria	3	0	3	0	5	24	−19	0		0–16	4–5	1–3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Latvia	3	3	0	0	15	9	+6	6			5–1	5–4	5–4
Italy	3	1	2	0	8	11	−3	2		1–5		3–4	4–2
Norway	3	1	2	0	8	9	−1	2		4–5	4–3		0–1
France	3	1	2	0	7	9	−2	2		4–5	2–4	1–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Final Round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Poland	5	5	0	0	31	7	+24	10			5–3	3–2	7–2	7–0	9–0
2	Latvia	5	4	1	0	22	16	+6	8		3–5		5–4	5–4	5–1	4–2
3	Norway	5	3	2	0	18	15	+3	6		2–3	4–5		3–1	4–3	5–3
4	Hungary	5	2	3	0	19	16	+3	4		2–7	4–5	1–3		5–0	7–1
5	Italy	5	1	4	0	9	25	−16	2		0–7	1–5	3–4	0–5		5–4
6	Japan	5	0	5	0	10	30	−20	0		0–9	2–4	3–5	1–7	4–5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

 Poland was promoted to Pool A for 1997.

Relegation Round

France

4–2

Austria

France

7–3

Austria

 Austria was relegated to Pool C for 1997.

Pool C

Played in Jesenice, Bled, and Kranj, Slovenia, from December 30 to January 3.

Preliminary round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Slovenia	3	3	0	0	22	5	+17	6			2–1	10–4	10–0
Denmark	3	2	1	0	18	5	+13	4		1–2		13–0	4–3
Romania	3	1	2	0	10	26	−16	2		4–10	0–13		6–3
Netherlands	3	0	3	0	6	20	−14	0		0–10	3–4	3–6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kazakhstan	3	3	0	0	25	11	+14	6			7–6	7–2	11–3
Belarus	3	2	1	0	23	11	+12	4		6–7		6–4	11–0
Great Britain	3	1	2	0	14	14	0	2		2–7	4–6		8–1
Spain	3	0	3	0	4	30	−26	0		3–11	0–11	1–8

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Placement Games

• 7th place: Netherlands 4 – 1  Spain
• 5th place: Great Britain 3 – 2  Romania
• 3rd place: Denmark 5 – 4  Belarus
• 1st Place: Kazakhstan 6 – 5  Slovenia

 Kazakhstan was promoted to Pool B, and  Spain was relegated to Pool D for 1997.

Pool D

Played in Tallinn, Estonia, from December 31 to January 4.

Preliminary round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Estonia	2	2	0	0	24	3	+21	4			4–2	20–1
Yugoslavia	2	1	1	0	10	5	+5	2		2–4		8–1
South Africa	2	0	2	0	2	28	−26	0		1–20	1–8

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Croatia	2	2	0	0	20	4	+16	4			5–2	15–2
Lithuania	2	1	1	0	21	7	+14	2		2–5		19–2
Bulgaria	2	0	2	0	4	34	−30	0		2–15	2–19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Placement Games

• 5th place: Bulgaria 10 – 1  South Africa
• 3rd place: Yugoslavia 5 – 4  Lithuania
• 1st Place: Croatia 2 – 0  Estonia

 Croatia was promoted to Pool C for 1997.