2020 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 2020 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships 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 hosted the WJHC.
Background
On 16 April 2018, it was announced that Ostrava and Třinec, in the Moravian-Silesian Region 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.Top Division
Match officials
The following officials were assigned by the International Ice Hockey Federation 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
- Riley Bowles
- Markus Hägerström
- Chad Huseby
- Vít Lederer
- Ludvig Lundgren
- Jonas Merten
- Tobias Nordlander
- David Obwegeser
- Nikita Shalagin
- Šimon Synek
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 being promoted from Division I A, after having won the 2019 Division I A Tournament.;Group A
Werk Arena
;Group B
Ostravar Aréna
*
Relegation
Note: was relegated to the 2022 Division I APlayoff 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.
| Rank | Team | Group | ||||||
| A | 1 | 4 | 11 | +12 | 20 | 5 | ||
| B | 1 | 4 | 9 | +4 | 17 | 6 | ||
| A | 2 | 4 | 9 | +7 | 19 | 4 | ||
| B | 2 | 4 | 8 | +4 | 17 | 2 | ||
| A | 3 | 4 | 7 | +9 | 19 | 1 | ||
| B | 3 | 4 | 6 | +8 | 16 | 3 | ||
| B | 4 | 4 | 4 | −6 | 12 | 7 | ||
| A | 4 | 4 | 3 | −14 | 8 | 8 |
Statistics
Scoring leaders
| Pos | Player | Country | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| 1 | Samuel Fagemo | 7 | 8 | 5 | 13 | +3 | 6 | |
| 2 | Barrett Hayton | 7 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Nils Höglander | 7 | 5 | 6 | 11 | +6 | 27 | |
| 4 | Alexis Lafrenière | 5 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +3 | 4 | |
| 5 | Rasmus Sandin | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +3 | 6 | |
| 6 | Grigori Denisenko | 7 | 3 | 6 | 9 | +4 | 8 | |
| 7 | Dylan Cozens | 7 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +6 | 4 | |
| 7 | Kristian Tanus | 7 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +4 | 0 | |
| 9 | Calen Addison | 7 | 1 | 8 | 9 | +4 | 0 | |
| 10 | Trevor Zegras | 5 | 0 | 9 | 9 | +6 | 4 |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF
Goaltending leaders
| Pos | Player | Country | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| 1 | Joel Hofer | 337:42 | 9 | 1.60 | 148 | 93.92 | 1 | |
| 2 | Hugo Alnefelt | 368:19 | 13 | 2.12 | 171 | 92.40 | 1 | |
| 3 | Amir Miftakhov | 197:50 | 7 | 2.12 | 86 | 91.86 | 1 | |
| 4 | Justus Annunen | 362:01 | 16 | 2.65 | 190 | 91.58 | 1 | |
| 5 | Spencer Knight | 241:26 | 10 | 2.49 | 115 | 91.30 | 0 |
TOI = Time on ice ; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF
Awards
- Best players selected by the directorate:
- *Best Goaltender: Joel Hofer
- *Best Defenceman: Rasmus Sandin
- *Best Forward: Alexis Lafrenière
- Media All-Stars:
- *MVP: Alexis Lafrenière
- *Goaltender: Joel Hofer
- *Defencemen: Rasmus Sandin / Alexander Romanov
- *Forwards: Samuel Fagemo / Barrett Hayton / Alexis Lafrenière