2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship was the 39th edition of World Junior Ice Hockey Championship, played from December 26, 2014 to January 5, 2015. It was co-hosted by Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and organized by Hockey Canada, Hockey Quebec, the Ontario Hockey Federation, the Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment and Evenko. Games were split between Air Canada Centre in Toronto and Bell Centre in Montreal, with Montreal hosting Group A matches and two quarter finals, and Toronto hosting Group B, along with the relegation games, two quarter finals, along with the semi-finals, bronze medal, and gold medal games.

After failing to medal at the previous two editions of the tournament, Canada beat Russia in the final to win the gold medal, marking Canada's first medal at the World Juniors since 2012, and Canada's first gold since 2009. Slovakia defeated Sweden in the bronze medal game to win their second-ever medal. Germany finished tenth overall and was relegated to Division IA for the 2016 tournament. Slovak goaltender Denis Godla was named the tournament's most valuable player, while Sam Reinhart of Canada was the scoring leader with 11 points.

Player eligibility
A player is eligible to play in the 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if:
 * the player is of male gender;
 * the player was born at the earliest in 1995, and at the latest, in 2000;
 * 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.

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

Referees
 * 🇸🇰 Vladimír Baluška
 * 🇩🇪 Lars Bruggemann
 * 🇷🇺 Roman Gofman
 * 🇨🇿 Antonin Jerabek
 * 🇫🇮 Mikko Kaukokari
 * 🇺🇸 Geoffrey Miller
 * 🇸🇪 Linus Ohlund
 * 🇷🇺 Konstantin Olenin
 * 🇺🇸 Steve Patafie
 * 🇨🇦 Pascal St-Jaques
 * 🇸🇪 Marcus Vinnerborg
 * Tobias Wehrli

Linesmen
 * 🇨🇦 Jordan Browne
 * 🇫🇷 Pierre Dehaen
 * 🇷🇺 Gleb Lazarev
 * 🇨🇿 Miroslav Lhotský
 * 🇸🇪 Andreas Malmqvist
 * 🇨🇦 Bevan Mills
 * 🇫🇮 Jani Pesonen
 * 🇩🇪 Nikolaj Ponomarjow
 * 🇺🇸 Judson Ritter
 * Simon Wust

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

Preliminary round
''All times are local. (Eastern Standard Time – UTC-5)''

Group A

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Group B

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Scoring leaders
Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders
(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Source: IIHF.com

Tournament awards
Reference: Most Valuable Player
 * Goaltender: 🇸🇰 Denis Godla

All-star team
 * Goaltender: 🇸🇰 Denis Godla
 * Defencemen: 🇸🇪 Gustav Forsling, 🇨🇦 Josh Morrissey
 * Forwards: 🇨🇦 Sam Reinhart, 🇨🇦 Max Domi, 🇨🇦 Connor McDavid

IIHF best player awards
 * Goaltender: 🇸🇰 Denis Godla
 * Defenceman: 🇷🇺 Vladislav Gavrikov
 * Forward: 🇨🇦 Max Domi

Final standings
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 A
The Division I A tournament was played in Asiago, Italy, from 14 to 20 December 2014.


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Division I B
The Division I B tournament was played in Dunaújváros, Hungary, from 14 to 20 December 2014.


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Division II A
The Division II A tournament was played in Tallinn, Estonia, from 7 to 13 December 2014.


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Division II B
The Division II B tournament was played in Jaca, Spain, from 13 to 19 December 2014.


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Division III
The Division III tournament was played in Dunedin, New Zealand, from 20 to 25 January 2015.

On December 27, 2014 organizers announced that the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation withdrew their U20 team from the tournament.


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