The 1997 IIHF European U18 Championship was the thirtieth playing of the

IIHF European Junior Championships The IIHF European Junior Championships were an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation and held from 1968 to 1998, with an unofficial tournament being held in 1967.Dupalcey page 528 The tournament was play ...

Group A

Played April 12 to the 20th, in

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian R ...

and

Třebíč Třebíč (; german: Trebitsch; yi, טרייביטש Treybitsh) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants. The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictine ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

shocked everyone by opening the tournament with wins over the Czechs and the Russians. Although they tired by the end of the tournament, their win over

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

assured them of their first (and only) medal in the European Juniors.

First round

;Group 1 ;Group 2

Final round

;Championship round ;7th place ''

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, losing the best of three series in overtime, was relegated to Group B for 1998.''

Tournament Awards

*Top Scorer

Marko Kauppinen Marko Kauppinen (born 23 March 1979) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the Liiga and Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Kauppinen was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 8th round (214th overall) of the 1997 ...

(9 points) *Top Goalie:

Mika Noronen Mika Noronen (born 17 June 1979) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 71 games n the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks between 2000 and 2006. The rest of his career, which laste ...

*Top Defenceman:

Jonas Elofsson Jonas Elofsson (born January 31, 1979) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player. He last played for Sparta Warriors. He has won two Swedish Championship with Färjestads BK in 1997 and 1998 . He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in t ...

*Top Forward:

Michel Riesen Michel Riesen (born April 11, 1979) is a Swiss former professional ice hockey winger. Most of his career, which lasted from 1994 to 2014, was spent in the Swiss Nationalliga A, though he also played 12 games in the National Hockey League with t ...

''Kauppinen, a defenceman, set a record for the lowest point total to lead a tournament.''

Group B

Played March 21 to the 30th, in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

and

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

First round

;Group 1 ;Group 2

Final round

;Championship round ;7th place ''

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

was promoted to Group A, and Slovenia was relegated to Group C, for 1998.''

Group C

Played March 12 to the 16th in

Miercurea-Ciuc Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt (riv ...

and

Gheorgheni Gheorgheni (; hu, Gyergyószentmiklós ) is a municipality in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The city administers four villages: * Covacipeter / Kovácspéter * Lacu Roș ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

First round

;Group 1 ;Group 2

Placing round

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

was promoted to Group B and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

was relegated to Group D, for 1998.''

Group D

Played in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or ...

from March 4th to 9th. The hosts completely dominated, with forward Csaba Prokec scoring 29 points in their 5 games.Group D
/ref> ''

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

was promoted to Group C for 1998.''

References

Complete results
* {{IIHF European Junior Championships

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

IIHF European Junior Championships Znojmo Třebíč IIHF European U18 Championship

International ice hockey competitions hosted by the Czech Republic IIHF European U18 Championship Sport in Maribor Sport in Celje International ice hockey competitions hosted by Slovenia

Miercurea Ciuc International ice hockey competitions hosted by Romania

International ice hockey competitions hosted by Serbia and Montenegro 1990s in Belgrade International sports competitions in Belgrade

IIHF European U18 Championship