The
World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is an
international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada
. The
tournament does not operate during years in which the
Canada Winter Games are held. As such,
the World Under-17 Challenge is held three out of every four years.
It is organized by
Hockey Canada and
is the first major international competition for male hockey
players under the age of 17. The tournament is the first step in
Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence and is used to identify
players moving on to the
U18 and
National Junior
Team.
Origins
The
inaugural World Under-17 Hockey Challenge took place in Quebec
as the
1986 Quebec Esso Cup. At
the time, it was considered the unofficial world championship of
midget hockey. It was also used
as a development tool for the
Canadian Amateur Hockey
Association to identify players for further development as well
as expose them to their first taste of international competition.
The
tournament was among ten teams, five regional teams from Canada,
Finland
, Czechoslovakia
, U.S.A.
, Sweden
, and the
U.S.S.R.
Team
Quebec, led by future
NHL
first overall pick
Pierre Turgeon
captured gold by defeating the Soviets, who featured the likes of
Sergei Fedorov and
Alexander Mogilny.
Recent years
The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge has continued to grow over the
years to the point where it is perhaps the largest annual event on
Hockey Canada's calendar. The tournament is still considered an
unofficial
World Championship, as
there is no official
IIHF
championship for Under-17 aged players.
The tournament is typically held over the Christmas break at the
same time as the Under-20
World Junior Hockey
Championships. As such,
Sidney
Crosby, who would have been slated to participate in the
2004 Championships
did not take part having been selected to Canada's National Junior
team at the time.
With
2007 being a
Canada Winter Games year, no World
Under-17 Hockey Challenge was scheduled.
The 2008 event was being hosted
at London,
Ontario
beginning December 29,
2007 and concluded on January 4,
2008. Participants in the 2008 tournament were the
five regional Canadian teams and Finland, Germany, Slovakia
, Russia
and the
United States.
Participating teams
Canada enters five regional teams from across the country. These
teams are:
- Atlantic (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island)
- Quebec
- Ontario
- Western (Manitoba and Saskatchewan)
- Pacific (Alberta and British Columbia)
Other participating nations have included:
- (now defunct)
- (now defunct)
Results
Notable players who have participated in this tournament
- Pierre Turgeon, Team Quebec,
1986
- Sergei Fedorov, Team USSR,
1986
- Alexander Mogilny, Team USSR,
1986
- Joe Sakic, Team Pacific, 1986
- Pavel Bure, Team Soviet Union,
1988
- Mats Sundin, Team Sweden, 1988
- Jere Lehtinen, Team Finland,
1990
- Sami Kapanen, Team Finland,
1990
- Martin Lapointe, Team Quebec,
1990
- Nikolai Khabibulin, Team
USSR, 1990
- Chris Gratton, Team Ontario,
1991
- Ethan Moreau, Team Ontario,
1991
- Todd Harvey, Team Ontario, 1991
- Jamie Storr, Team Ontario, 1991
- Alexandre Daigle, Team Quebec,
1991
- Éric Dazé, Team Quebec,
1991
- Jocelyn Thibault, Team Quebec,
1991
- Radek Bonk, Team Czechoslovakia,
1991
- Viktor Kozlov, Team USSR,
1991
- Adam Deadmarsh, Team Pacific,
1991
- Darcy Tucker, Team Pacific,
1991
- Niklas Sundström, Team
Sweden, 1991
- Danny Brière, Team Quebec,
1994
- Jean-Sébastien
Giguère, Team Quebec, 1994
- Jarome Iginla, Team Pacific,
1994
- Brad Larsen, Team Pacific, 1994
- Bryan Berard, Team USA, 1994
- Joe Thornton, Team Ontario,
1995
- Roberto Luongo, Team Quebec,
1995
- Patrick Marleau, Team West,
1995
- Scott Gomez, Team USA, 1995
- Vincent Lecavalier, Team
Quebec, 1996
- David Legwand, Team USA, 1996
- Duncan Keith, Team Pacific,
2000
- Ilya Kovalchuk, Team Russia,
2000
- Joni Pitkänen, Team Finland,
2000
- Alexander Ovechkin, Team
Russia, 2002
- Jack Johnson, Team
USA, 2004
- Phil Kessel, Team USA, 2004
References
See also
Team Ontario U-17
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