The 2011 IIHF World U20 Championship, commonly referred to as the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships (''2011 WJHC''), was the 35th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was hosted by the United States. The games were played in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

, at

HSBC Arena Jeunesse Arena is an indoor multi-purpose arena, located in the region of Barra da Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named for the American cosmetics company Jeunesse Global through a naming rights deal closed in 2017. Before, the spons ...

in Buffalo and

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

Dwyer Arena The Robert and Concetta Dwyer Arena houses two ice surfaces, both 200 x 85 ft., and pro shop on Niagara University's campus in Lewiston, New York, United States. The main rink can seat up to 1,400 people and is the home to the Niagara Purple Eagle ...

in Lewiston.

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

won the gold medal with a 5–3 victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the championship game, after completing the biggest comeback in the WJHC history; being down 3–0 after two periods, the Russians scored five goals in the third period to capture their first WJHC gold medal since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. The host team, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, won the bronze medal with a 4–2 win over

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Bid process

Co-host of the 2005 tournament,

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

, also submitted a bid to host the 2011 tournament. In addition,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

was mentioned as a possible host city.

Venues

Summary

Exhibition games

A series of five exhibition games were held between several of the teams at

Sports Centre at MCC Tim Horton's Iceplex is a non-profit indoor athletics facility in the Rochester, New York suburb of Brighton. Located on the campus of Monroe Community College, the arena was built in 1998. It is home to four regulation-size ice rinks for sem ...

in Brighton, New York and the

Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena Northwest Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Jamestown, New York, USA. It hosts local sporting events and concerts. It is the home of the Jamestown Rebels junior hockey team in the North American Hockey League. It has been the home of two short-li ...

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

in conjunction with, and immediately prior to, the tournament.

Preliminary round

The Preliminary Round robin consisted of two pools of five teams each, played in a round robin format. The United States (Pool A) and Sweden (Pool B) went undefeated to finish first in their respective pools and earn an automatic berth in the semifinals. To qualify for the quarterfinals, Canada and Russia finished second and third in Pool B while Finland and Switzerland did likewise in Pool A. The remaining teams, Slovakia, Germany, Czech Republic and Norway, were sent to the relegation round.

Relegation round

In the relegation round, Slovakia and Norway played in the first game, with Slovakia winning 5–0. The Czech Republic defeated Germany 3–2 in the second game. After the first day of action, the final results were decided and the remaining games were meaningless. Germany lost to Norway 3–1 and the Czech Republic defeated Slovakia 5–2 in the final relegation games. Norway and Germany were relegated to Division I for the 2012 tournament.

Medal round

Quarterfinals

The first quarterfinal game saw Russia take on Finland. Russia trailed by two goals late in the game, but scored twice to tie and send it to overtime.

Evgeny Kuznetsov Yevgeny Yevgenyevich Kuznetsov (russian: Евгений Евгеньевич Кузнецов; born 19 May 1992) is a Russian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). He p ...

scored the game-winning goal in overtime. In the other quarterfinal, Canada easily defeated Switzerland 4–1.

Semifinals

The first semi-final featured Russia and Sweden. Controversy erupted in the second period as an apparent icing call on Russia was waved off by the on-ice officials, allowing the Russians to score and take a 2–0 lead. The Swedish team protested the non-call, but the goal stood. The Swedes did forge a comeback and took a 3–2 lead in the third period, but the Russians scored late to force overtime for the second consecutive game. The game went to a shootout with Russia winning, 4–3. The second semifinal was a highly anticipated rematch of the previous year's gold medal game between Canada and the United States, the defending champions. In front of a mainly Canadian crowd that made the trip to Buffalo, Canada earned a berth in the final with a 4–1 victory over their American

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Fifth place game

The fifth place game featured the losing teams of the quarter-final games. Switzerland defeated Finland 3–2 in a shootout to take fifth place.

Bronze medal game

The United States defeated Sweden 4–2 to win the bronze medal, its first ever WJHC medal on home ice.

Gold medal game

The gold medal game was between Canada and Russia. The game marked Canada's tenth consecutive appearance in the final. The Russians had lost their three previous gold medal games to Canada. Canada led 3-0 after two periods. However, the Russians scored five unanswered goals in the third period, including two in a span of 13 seconds, to win the game 5–3 and capture the gold medal. It was Russia's first gold medal since 2003 and Canada's second straight silver medal finish.

Brayden Schenn Brayden Michael Schenn (; born August 22, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Los Angeles Kings fifth overall in the 2009 ...

of Canada was named the tournament's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. The game delivered one of the largest television audiences in Canadian history, with an average of 6.88 million viewers watching on TSN and another 652,000 watching the French-language broadcast on RDS. An estimated half of Canadians watched a portion or all of the game.

Top division

Rosters

Preliminary round

Group A

All times local ( EST/UTC−5)

Group B

All times local ( EST/UTC−5)

Relegation round

The results from matches between teams from the same group in the preliminary round were carried forward to this round. All times local ( EST/UTC−5) '' and were relegated to Division I for the

2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2012 IIHF U20 World Championship (commonly known as the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships) was the 36th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It was hosted in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It began on Decemb ...

.''

Final round

* Decided in Overtime. ** Decided in Shootout.

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

5th place playoff

Bronze medal game

Gold medal game

Scoring leaders

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Tournament awards

;Most Valuable Player *

;All-star team * Goaltender: Jack Campbell * Defencemen:

Ryan Ellis Ryan James Ellis (born January 3, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ellis was drafted eleventh overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft ...

, Dmitri Orlov * Forwards:

Ryan Johansen Ryan Johansen (born July 31, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up, he played minor hockey in the Greater Vancouver area until joining ...

;IIHF best player awards * Goaltender: Jack Campbell * Defenceman:

* Forward:

Final standings

Division I

The following teams took part in the Division I tournament. Group A was played in

Babruysk Babruysk, Babrujsk or Bobruisk ( be, Бабруйск , Łacinka: , rus, Бобруйск, Bobrujsk, bɐˈbruɪ̯s̪k, yi, באָברויסק ) is a city in the Mogilev Region of eastern Belarus on the Berezina River. , its population was 209 ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, between December 13 and December 19, 2010. Group B was played in

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

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 ...

, between December 12 and December 18, 2010.

Group A

Group B

Division II

The following teams took part in the Division II tournament. Group A was played in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Group B was played 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 ...

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 ...

, between December 13 and December 19, 2010.

Group A

Group B

Division III

Rosters

References

External links

Buffalo World Junior Hockey Championship Website

2011 IIHF World U20 Championship Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Junior Ice Hockey Championships 2011

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, 2011

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

World Junior Championships Sports competitions in Buffalo, New York Sports in Jamestown, New York Sports in Rochester, New York

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

International sports competitions in New York (state)