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 Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. It began on December 26, 2011, and ended with the gold medal game played in Calgary on January 5, 2012. Sweden defeated defending-champion

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 ...

1–0 in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

to win their first title in 31 years. Russian forward

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 ...

was named MVP of the tournament.

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

was relegated to Division I and

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 ...

was promoted to the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

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 ...

missed the final for the first time in 11 years when they lost 6–5 against Russia in a semifinal in which Canada were down 6–1 halfway through the third period. However, the Canadians extended their consecutive medal streak at the tournament to 14 (5 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze) with a 4–0 victory over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in the bronze medal game. The fourth-place finish for Finland was their best result in the tournament since 2006. 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 territori ...

ended up in the relegation round for the first time since 1999.

Host city selection

On February 1, 2008, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League announced that six groups had submitted letters of intent to bid to host the 2012 tournament: Calgary/Edmonton; Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

;

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

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 ...

; Saskatoon,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

;

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 ...

; and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

. The London/Windsor, Halifax and Winnipeg bids withdrew before the application deadline, leaving three groups. Saskatoon was selected to host the 2010 tournament with

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

, leaving only the Calgary/Edmonton and Toronto bids for this tournament. The Alberta bid, supported by the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's Calgary Flames and

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

as well as the Western Hockey League's Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton Oil Kings, was selected to host the tournament on August 28, 2008. It will be the second time the tournament has been hosted in the province;

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

served as the primary host of the 1995 World Junior Championship, while some tournament games were played in both Calgary and Edmonton.

Venues

Attendance

As part of their bid, the two cities projected that they would generate a tournament record attendance in excess of 475,000 fans and provide an economic benefit of $42 million to the province of Alberta. Following a reserved offering of 10- and 21-game ticket packs for Edmonton and Calgary games respectively to season ticket holders of the Oilers, Oil Kings, Flames and Hitmen, the tournament committee held a lottery to award the right to purchase the remaining seats. While the entry deadline was supposed to coincide with the conclusion of the 2011 tournament, organizers were flooded with so many entries that their website servers crashed. Organizers were overwhelmed by the response; over 187,000 entries were received for the draw. Calling the demand unprecedented, Hockey Canada announced that the 17,000 ticket packages made available to lottery winners had sold out in a matter of days, a year in advance of the tournament. While organizers were pleased with the result, the way the lottery was handled has angered fans who won the right to purchase tickets but were unable to do so as no tickets were left when their turn to buy arrived. Ultimately, a new attendance record was set, but not by the margin initially anticipated. The total of 455,342 fans was 2,060 fans more than the previous record of 453,282 from 2009. Though many more tickets were sold as part of tournament packages, the IIHF only counts actual paid spectators in attendance in its figures.

Top division

Each round was a round-robin tournament, where the teams played each other once within their group. The Preliminary Round was divided into two groups: Group A and Group B, which included five teams each. From each group, the top three teams qualified for the playoffs; the 1st-ranked teams earned a direct trip to the Semifinals, while the 2nd and 3rd-ranked teams qualified for the Quarterfinals. The 4th and 5th-ranked teams had to play in the Relegation Round, where the three best teams qualified for the Top Division tournament in 2013, with the last-placed team being relegated to the 2013 Division I tournament. In the Semifinals, the directly-qualified Semifinalists faced the winners from the Quarterfinals.

Rosters

Preliminary round

Group A

All round robin games held in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, at the Scotiabank Saddledome. All times local ( MST/UTC−7)

Group B

All round robin games held in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anch ...

, at

Rexall Place Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and N ...

. All times local ( MST/UTC−7)

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 ( MST/UTC−7)

Final round

;Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Fifth place game

Bronze medal game

Final

Statistics

Scoring leaders

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Tournament awards

;Most Valuable Player * Forward:

;All-star team * Goaltender:

Petr Mrázek Petr Mrázek (; born 14 February 1992) is a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the fifth round, 141st overall, by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2010 NHL En ...

* Defencemen: Brandon Gormley,

Oscar Klefbom Oscar Erik Anders Klefbom (born 20 July 1993) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is injured and is generally considered to have finished his playing career, but he has ...

* Forwards:

Max Friberg Max Friberg (born November 20, 1992) is a Swedish professional ice hockey winger who is currently playing under contract to Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Friberg was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the fifth round, 143rd overa ...

, Mikael Granlund ;IIHF best player awards * Goaltender:

* Defenceman: Brandon Gormley * Forward:

Final standings

Medalists

Source

Gold medal celebration

Sweden's gold medal win was their first since 1981 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, 1981, as well as their second gold medal in total. The gold medal was celebrated on January 7, 2012, in front of over 6,000 fans at

Kungsträdgården Kungsträdgården ( Swedish for "King's Garden") is a park in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is colloquially known as ''Kungsan''. The park's central location and its outdoor cafés makes it one of the most popular hangouts and meeting place ...

in Stockholm.

Division I

Division I A

The Division I A tournament was played in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

, from 11 to 17 December 2011.

Division I B

The Division I B tournament was played in

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Tichau; szl, Tychy) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, approximately south of Katowice. Situated on the southern edge of the Upper Silesian industrial district, the city boders Katowice to the north, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, from 12 to 18 December 2011.

Division II

Division II A

The Division II A tournament was played in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, from 12 to 18 December 2011.

Division II B

The Division II B 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 10 to 16 December 2011.

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 16 to 22 January 2012.Division III statistics
/ref> Although originally scheduled to participate,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

withdrew from the tournament for unspecified reasons.

References

External links