The 2020 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2020 WJHC'') was the 44th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, held from 26 December 2019 to 5 January 2020. Canada defeated Russia 4–3 to win the gold medal and their 18th world junior hockey championship. This marks the fourth time that the

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

hosted the WJHC.

Background

On 16 April 2018, it was announced that

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

and

Třinec Třinec (; ; ) is a city in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the least populated Statutory city (Czech Republic), statutory city in the country. The city ...

, in the

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region () is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region (). The region is located in the north-eastern part of its historical region of Moravia and in most ...

would host the tournament. This was the second time Ostrava had been selected to host the competition. The city had also twice co-hosted the senior

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

(in 2004 and 2015).

Top Division

Venues

Match officials

The following officials were assigned by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

to officiate the 2020 World Junior Championships. Referees * Michael Campbell * Ivan Fateev * Andreas Harnebring * Lassi Heikkinen * Oldřich Hejduk * Fraser Lawrence * Sean MacFarlane * Sergey Morozov * Vladimír Pešina * André Schrader * Michael Tscherrig * Kristian Vikman Linesmen * Riley Bowles * Markus Hägerström * Chad Huseby * Vít Lederer * Ludvig Lundgren * Jonas Merten * Tobias Nordlander * David Obwegeser * Nikita Shalagin * Šimon Synek

Rosters

Preliminary round

Seeding

Seeds the preliminary round were based on the 2019 tournament's final standings using the serpentine system. On 6 January 2019, the IIHF announced the groups, with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

being promoted from Division I A, after having won the 2019 Division I A Tournament. ;Group A
Werk Arena * (1) * (4) * (5) * (8) * (9) ;Group B
Ostravar Aréna * (2) * (3) * (6) * (7) * (11-Promoted)

Group A

Group B

Relegation

Note: was relegated to the 2022 Division I A

Playoff round

Winning teams were reseeded for the semi-finals in accordance with the following ranking, this was a change the IIHF implemented during their 2019 annual congress. To determine this ranking, the following criteria were used in the order presented: #higher position in the group #higher number of points #better goal difference #higher number of goals scored for #better seeding coming into the tournament (final placement at the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships).

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal game

Gold medal game

Statistics

Scoring leaders

''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− =

Plus–minus Plus–minus, ±, +/−, or variants may refer to: * Plus–minus sign (±), a mathematical symbol which can mean either plus (+) or minus (−), or can indicate the uncertainty of a measurement or statistic * Plus–minus (sports), a sport ...

; PIM = Penalties In Minutes''
Source: IIHF

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time) ''TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO =

Shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s''
Source: IIHF

Awards

*Best players selected by the directorate: **Best

Goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

: Joel Hofer **Best

Defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

: Rasmus Sandin **Best Forward: Alexis Lafrenière Source
IIHF
/small> *Media All-Stars: **MVP: Alexis Lafrenière **Goaltender: Joel Hofer **Defencemen: Rasmus Sandin / Alexander Romanov **Forwards: Samuel Fagemo / Barrett Hayton / Alexis Lafrenière Source
IIHF
/small>

Final standings

Division I

Group A

The Division I Group A tournament was played in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus, from 9 to 15 December 2019.

Group B

The Division I Group B tournament was played in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine, from 12 to 18 December 2019.

Division II

Group A

The Division II Group A tournament was played in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania, from 6 to 12 January 2020.

Group B

The Division II Group B tournament was played in

Gangneung Gangneung (; ) is a list of cities in South Korea, municipal city in Gangwon, South Korea, Gangwon province, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved Ja ...

, South Korea, from 27 January to 3 February 2020.

Division III

The Division III tournament was played in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Bulgaria, from 13 to 19 January 2020.2020 Division III statistics
/ref>

Playoffs

Final standings

References

External links

Official website of IIHF

Groups for 2020 World Juniors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Hockey, World Junior Championships, 2020

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

World Junior Championships World Junior Championships World Junior Championships, 2020 World Junior Championships, 2020 Sport in Ostrava Sport in Třinec

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), sometimes referred to as World Juniors, 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 traditionally ...

2019–20 in Czech ice hockey