The 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 39th edition of Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, played from December 26, 2014 to January 5, 2015. It was co-hosted by

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

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 ...

, and organized by Hockey Canada,

Hockey Quebec Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, the

Ontario Hockey Federation The Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) is the governing body of all sanctioned ice hockey in the province of Ontario in Canada, except for those portions governed by Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Hockey Eastern Ontario. The federation is on ...

, the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

and

Evenko Evenko is a Montreal-based event promoter. The company is owned by the Montreal Canadiens' ownership group Groupe CH, which is controlled by the Molson family. It handles event booking for venues such as Bell Centre, the Corona Theatre, and Plac ...

. Games were split between

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Ra ...

in Toronto and

Bell Centre Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...

in Montreal, with Montreal hosting Group A matches and two quarter finals, and Toronto hosting Group B, along with the relegation games, two quarter finals, along with the semi-finals, bronze medal, and gold medal games."Montreal and Toronto to host 2015, 2017 world junior championships"
Canadian Press, June 20, 2013The Gazette (Montreal)

, Brenda Branswell, June 20, 2013 After failing to medal at the previous two editions of the tournament,

beat

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the final to win the gold medal, marking Canada's first medal at the World Juniors since 2012, and Canada's first gold since 2009.

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 ...

defeated Sweden in the bronze medal game to win their second-ever medal.

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 ...

finished tenth overall and was relegated to Division IA for the 2016 tournament. Slovak goaltender Denis Godla was named the tournament's most valuable player, while

Sam Reinhart Samson Reinhart (born November 6, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Reinhart was selected second overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Reinhar ...

of Canada was the scoring leader with 11 points.

Player eligibility

A player is eligible to play in the 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if: * the player is of male gender; * the player was born at the earliest in 1995, and at the latest, in 2000; * the player is a citizen in the country he represents; * the player is under the jurisdiction of a national association that is a member of the

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

. 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.

Top Division

Venues

Officials

The

selected 12 referees and 10 linesmen to officiate during the tournament: Referees * Vladimír Baluška * Lars Bruggemann * Roman Gofman * Antonin Jeřábek * Mikko Kaukokari * Geoffrey Miller * Linus Öhlund * Konstantin Olenin * Steve Patafie * Pascal St-Jaques * Marcus Vinnerborg * Tobias Wehrli Linesmen * Jordan Browne * Pierre Dehaen * Gleb Lazarev * Miroslav Lhotský * Andreas Malmqvist * Bevan Mills * Jani Pesonen * Nikolaj Ponomarjow * Judson Ritter * Simon Wust

Format

The four best ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advance to the quarterfinals, while the last placed teams from each group played a relegation round in a

best of three There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly k ...

format to determine the relegated team.

Rosters

Preliminary round

''All times are local. (

Eastern Standard Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and ...

– UTC-5)''

Group A

Group B

Relegation round

Note: was relegated for the

2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 40th Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It was hosted in Helsinki, Finland. It began on December 26, 2015, and ended with the gold medal game on January 5, 2016. This marked the sixth time ...

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal game

Final

Statistics

Scoring leaders

''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes''
Source
IIHF.com
/small>

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 =

Shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s''
Source
IIHF.com
/small>

Tournament awards

Reference

/small> Most Valuable Player * Goaltender: Denis Godla All-star team * Goaltender: Denis Godla * Defencemen:

Gustav Forsling Gustav Forsling (born 12 June 1996) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Forsling was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the fifth round (126th overall) of the 2014 NHL E ...

Josh Morrissey Joshua Morrissey (born March 28, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Jets in the first round, 13th overall, of the 2013 N ...

* Forwards:

Max Domi Maxwell Johannes Domi (born March 2, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, 12th overall, of the 2013 NHL En ...

Connor McDavid Connor Andrew McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers selected him first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. McDavid spen ...

IIHF best player awards * Goaltender: Denis Godla * Defenceman:

Vladislav Gavrikov Vladislav Andreyevich Gavrikov (russian: Владислав Андреевич Гавриков; born 21 November 1995) is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL ...

* Forward:

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.

Division I

Division I A

The Division I A tournament was played in

Asiago Asiago (; Venetian: ''Axiago'', Cimbrian: ''Slege'', German: ''Schlägen'' ) is a minor township (population roughly 6,500) in the surrounding plateau region (the ''Altopiano di Asiago'' or '' Altopiano dei Sette Comuni'', Asiago plateau) in th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, from 14 to 20 December 2014.

Division I B

The Division I B tournament was played in

Dunaújváros Dunaújváros (; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is an industrial city in Fejér County, Central Hungary. It is a city with county rights. Situated 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Budapest on the Danube, the city i ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, from 14 to 20 December 2014.

Division II

Division II A

The Division II A tournament 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 ...

, from 7 to 13 December 2014.

Division II B

The Division II B tournament was played in

Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, from 13 to 19 December 2014.

Division III

The Division III tournament was played in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, from 20 to 25 January 2015. On December 27, 2014 organizers announced that the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation withdrew their U20 team from the tournament.Bulgaria withdraws
/ref>

References

External links

* http://www.worldjunior2015.com Official site

Hockey Canada site {{2014–15 in men's ice hockey 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships,

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 ...

2015

2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 39th edition of Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, played from December 26, 2014 to January 5, 2015. It was co-hosted by Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and organized by ...

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, 2015

Sports competitions in Montreal International sports competitions in Toronto