2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

2016 IIHF World U20 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Finland
Dates	December 26, 2015 – January 5, 2016
Teams	10
Venue(s)	Hartwall Arena and Helsinki Ice Hall (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Finland (4th title)
Runner-up	Russia
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played	30
Goals scored	193 (6.43 per match)
Attendance	215,226 (7,174 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Jesse Puljujärvi (17 points)
MVP	Jesse Puljujärvi
Website	2016 World Junior
← 2015 2017 →

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 that Finland has hosted the WJC, and the hosts defeated Russia 4–3 in overtime to win their fourth title in history and second in the last three years. Belarus was relegated to Division I-A for 2017 by merit of their tenth-place finish, while Finnish right winger Jesse Puljujärvi earned MVP and top scorer honors.

Nations participating at 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships

Player eligibility

A player is eligible to play in the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if:

• the player is of male gender;
• the player was born at the earliest in 1996, and at the latest, in 2001;
• 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.

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

Helsinki	Helsinki	Helsinki
Hartwall Arena Capacity: 13,349		Helsinki Ice Hall Capacity: 8,200

Officials

The IIHF selected 12 referees and 10 linesmen to officiate during the tournament:

Referees

• Alexei Anisimov
• Andris Ansons
• Stefan Fonselius
• Brett Iverson
• Daniel Konc
• Mikael Nord
• Vladimir Pešina
• Daniel Piechaczek
• Christopher Pitoscia
• Aleksi Rantala
• Jean-Philippe Sylvain
• Marc Wiegand

Linesmen

• Nicolas Chartrand-Piche
• Matjaž Hribar
• Rene Jensen
• Roman Kaderli
• Pasi Nieminen
• Brian Oliver
• Alexander Otmakhov
• Henrik Pihlblad
• Hannu Sormunen
• Alexander Waldejer

Rosters

Main article: 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters

Format

The four best ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advance to the quarterfinals, while the last placed team from both groups play a relegation round in a best of three format to determine the relegated team.

Preliminary round

All times are local. (Eastern European Time – UTC+2)

	Team qualified to Quarterfinals
	Team will play in Relegation round

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

1A

Sweden

6

4B

Slovakia

0

1A

Sweden

1

2B

Finland

2

2B

Finland

6

3A

Canada

5

2B

Finland

4

1B

Russia

3

1B

Russia

4

4A

Denmark

3

1B

Russia

2

Bronze medal game

2A

United States

1

2A

United States

7

1A

Sweden

3

3B

Czech Republic

0

2A

United States

8

Statistics

Scoring leaders

Pos	Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
1	Jesse Puljujärvi	Finland	7	5	12	17	+8	0
2	Sebastian Aho	Finland	7	5	9	14	+9	4
3	Patrik Laine	Finland	7	7	6	13	+8	6
4	Auston Matthews	United States	7	7	4	11	+6	2
5	Matthew Tkachuk	United States	7	4	7	11	+7	6
6	Alexander Nylander	Sweden	7	4	5	9	+5	0
7	Zach Werenski	United States	7	2	7	9	+10	4
8	Denis Malgin	Switzerland	6	1	8	9	−1	6
9	Olli Juolevi	Finland	7	0	9	9	+6	4
10	Christian Dvorak	United States	7	3	5	8	+8	0
10	Adrian Kempe	Sweden	7	3	5	8	+1	8

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Source: IIHF

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Pos	Player	Country	TOI	GA	GAA	Sv%	SO
1	Linus Söderström	Sweden	295:28	7	1.42	94.70	2
2	Alex Nedeljkovic	United States	325:52	9	1.66	94.27	1
3	Thomas Lillie	Denmark	185:00	10	3.24	91.45	0
4	Kaapo Kähkönen	Finland	214:13	9	2.52	90.91	0
5	Adam Huska	Slovakia	292:30	19	3.90	89.89	0

TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts

Source: IIHF

Tournament awards

Reference: [1] Most Valuable Player

• Forward: Jesse Puljujärvi

All-star team

• Goaltender: Linus Söderström
• Defencemen: Olli Juolevi, Zach Werenski
• Forwards: Jesse Puljujärvi, Patrik Laine, Auston Matthews

IIHF best player awards

• Goaltender: Linus Söderström
• Defenceman: Zach Werenski
• Forward: Jesse Puljujärvi

Final standings

	Team
	Finland
	Russia
	United States
4th	Sweden
5th	Czech Republic
6th	Canada
7th	Slovakia
8th	Denmark
9th	Switzerland
10th	Belarus

Relegated to the 2017 Division I A

2016 IIHF Junior World Champions
Finland 4th title

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

Main article: 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division I

Group A

The Division I A tournament was played in Vienna, Austria, from 13 to 19 December 2015.

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Latvia	5	4	1	0	0	20	7	+13	14
Austria	5	3	0	0	2	18	18	0	9
Kazakhstan	5	2	1	0	2	21	13	+8	8
Norway	5	1	1	2	1	21	14	+7	7
Germany	5	2	0	1	2	10	14	−4	7
Italy	5	0	0	0	5	5	29	−24	0

Promoted to the 2017 Top Division

Relegated to the 2017 Division I B

Group B

The Division I B tournament was played in Megève, France, from 12 to 18 December 2015. Prior to the start of the tournament Japan withdrew, and was relegated for 2017.

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	4	2	1	0	1	17	9	+8	8
Poland	4	2	1	0	1	15	10	+5	8
Great Britain	4	2	1	0	1	13	16	−3	8
Ukraine	4	1	0	2	1	9	10	−1	5
Slovenia	4	0	0	1	3	6	15	−9	1
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Promoted to the 2017 Division I A

Relegated to the 2017 Division II A

Division II

Main article: 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division II

Group A

The Division II A tournament was played in Elektrėnai, Lithuania, from 13 to 19 December 2015.

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Hungary	5	5	0	0	0	36	9	+27	15
Lithuania	5	3	1	0	1	18	16	+2	11
Estonia	5	3	0	0	2	27	26	+1	9
Croatia	5	2	0	0	3	13	21	−8	6
Netherlands	5	0	1	0	4	14	23	−9	2
South Korea	5	0	0	2	3	15	28	−13	2

Promoted to the 2017 Division I B

Relegated to the 2017 Division II B

Group B

The Division II B tournament was played in Novi Sad, Serbia, from 17 to 23 January 2016.

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Romania	5	4	1	0	0	37	14	+23	14
Spain	5	4	0	0	1	34	12	+22	12
Serbia	5	3	0	1	1	34	9	+25	10
Belgium	5	2	0	0	3	14	21	−7	6
Australia	5	1	0	0	4	11	35	−24	3
China	5	0	0	0	5	6	45	−39	0

Promoted to the 2017 Division II A

Relegated to the 2017 Division III

Division III

Main article: 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division III

The Division III tournament was played in Mexico City, Mexico, from 15 to 24 January 2016.

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	6	5	0	0	1	24	14	+10	15
Bulgaria	6	4	0	0	2	18	13	+5	12
New Zealand	6	4	0	0	2	29	16	+13	12
Israel	6	3	0	1	2	39	23	+16	10
Iceland	6	2	1	0	3	24	21	+3	8
Turkey	6	2	0	0	4	20	15	+5	6
South Africa	6	0	0	0	6	7	59	−52	0

Promoted to the 2017 Division II B

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Official site for the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships