The 1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1996 WJHC) was the 20th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, hosted in Massachusetts, United States. The tournament was won by Canada—defeating Sweden 4–1 in the gold-medal game—earning Canada their fourth straight gold medal and ninth overall, tying the Soviet team's record in both regards.
Attendance was less than spectacular for the championships in the United States. It would be the last time the US would host the tournament until 2005 in Grand Forks.
Among this edition of the tournament's future NHL stars were Milan Hejduk, Miikka Kiprusoff, Chris Drury, Marco Sturm, José Théodore, Mattias Öhlund, Daymond Langkow, Sergei Samsonov and tournament scoring leader Jarome Iginla.
This was the first World Juniors tournament to implement the two groups, round-robin/preliminaries and playoff format. It was also Slovakia's first appearance at the top level in the junior tournament.
Round robin
Group A
Group B
Relegation round
was relegated for the 1997 World Junior Championships.
Playoffs
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
5th place game
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Scoring leaders PlayerCountryGPGA Pts Jarome Iginla 6 5 7 12 Florian Keller 6 4 8 12 Marco Sturm 6 4 6 10 Miika Elomo 6 4 5 9 Johan Davidsson 7 3 6 9 Ruslan Shafikov 7 1 8 9 Alexei Morozov 7 5 3 8 Juho Jokinen 6 3 5 8 Dmitri Nabokov 7 3 5 8 Marcus Nilson 7 3 5 8
Goaltending leaders (minimum 40% team's total ice time)
PlayerCountryMINSGAGAASOW LT José Théodore 240 6 1.50 0 4 0 0 Per-Ragnar Bergkvist 240 6 1.50 1 2 1 1 Magnus Wennström 180 7 2.33 0 2 1 1 Alexei Yegorov 358.9 17 2.84 0 3 2 1 Miikka Kiprusoff 159.3 9 3.39 0 1 2 0
Tournament awards
All-star team
Goaltender: José Théodore Defencemen: Nolan Baumgartner, Mattias Öhlund Forwards: Jarome Iginla, Johan Davidsson, Alexei Morozov
IIHF best player awards
Goaltender: José Théodore Defenceman: Mattias Öhlund Forward: Jarome Iginla
Final standings Team 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Pool B The second tier was held in Sosnowiec and Tychy, Poland, from December 28 to January 4. Two groups of four played round robins, and then the top three played each of the top three teams from the other group. All scores carried forward except the results against the lone eliminated team from each group.
Preliminary round Group A
Group B
Final Round
was promoted to Pool A for 1997.
Relegation Round
was relegated to Pool C for 1997.
Pool C Played in Jesenice, Bled, and Kranj, Slovenia, from December 30 to January 3.
Preliminary round Group A
Group B
Placement Games 7th place: 4 – 1 5th place: 3 – 2 3rd place: 5 – 4 1st Place: 6 – 5
was promoted to Pool B, and was relegated to Pool D for 1997.
Pool D Played in Tallinn, Estonia, from December 31 to January 4.
Preliminary round Group A
Group B
Placement Games 5th place: 10 – 1 3rd place: 5 – 4 1st Place: 2 – 0
was promoted to Pool C for 1997.
References