2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2003 IIHF World U20 Championship, commonly referred as the 2003 World Junior Hockey Championships (2003 WJHC), was the 27th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship.^[1] The tournament was held in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, from December 26, 2002, to January 5, 2003. Russia won the gold medal for the second consecutive year with a 3–2 victory over Canada in the championship game, while Finland won the bronze medal with a 3–2 victory over the United States.

2003 IIHF World U20 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Canada
Venue(s)	Halifax Metro Centre and Centre 200 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	December 26, 2002 – January 5, 2003
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	Russia (3rd title)
Runners-up	Canada
Third place	Finland
Fourth place	United States
Tournament statistics
Games played	31
Goals scored	187 (6.03 per game)
Attendance	242,173 (7,812 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Patrik Bärtschi Igor Grigorenko (10 points)
← 2002 2004 →

Playoff round (again) reverted to six teams qualifying, with group leaders getting a bye into the semifinals.

Venues

Halifax Metro Centre Capacity: 10,595	Centre 200 Capacity: 4,881
Canada – Halifax	Canada – Sydney

Rosters

Main article: 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters

Top Division

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	4	4	0	0	21	7	+14	8	Semifinals
2	United States	4	3	0	1	15	9	+6	6	Quarterfinals
3	Slovakia	4	2	0	2	15	8	+7	4
4	Switzerland	4	1	0	3	10	15	−5	2	Relegation round
5	Belarus	4	0	0	4	6	28	−22	0

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

All times local (AST/UTC-4).

December 26, 2002 14:00

Belarus

2–4 (1–2, 1–0, 0–2)

Switzerland

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 1,951

December 26, 2002 18:00

United States

1–5 (0–2, 1–2, 0–1)

Russia

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 4,950

December 27, 2002 20:00

Slovakia

11–1 (3–1, 4–0, 4–0)

Belarus

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,548

December 28, 2002 16:00

Switzerland

1–3 (1–0, 0–2, 0–1)

United States

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,331

December 28, 2002 20:00

Russia

4–0 (1–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Slovakia

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 3,213

December 29, 2002 18:00

Belarus

1–5 (0–2, 1–2, 0–1)

Russia

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,232

December 30, 2002 14:00

United States

8–2 (4–0, 3–1, 1–1)

Belarus

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,213

December 30, 2002 18:00

Switzerland

0–3 (0–1, 0–2, 0–0)

Slovakia

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,069

December 31, 2002 14:00

Slovakia

1–3 (1–0, 0–2, 0–1)

United States

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,238

December 31, 2002 18:00

Russia

7–5 (2–1, 3–2, 2–2)

Switzerland

Centre 200, Sydney Attendance: 2,249

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada	4	4	0	0	21	6	+15	8	Semifinals
2	Finland	4	2	1	1	12	9	+3	5	Quarterfinals
3	Czech Republic	4	2	1	1	8	7	+1	5
4	Sweden	4	1	0	3	12	16	−4	2	Relegation round
5	Germany	4	0	0	4	3	18	−15	0

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

All times local (AST/UTC-4).

December 26, 2002 16:00

Germany

0–4 (0–2, 0–0, 0–2)

Finland

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 8,923

December 26, 2002 20:10

Sweden

2–8 (0–2, 2–2, 0–4)

Canada

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

December 27, 2002 19:00

Czech Republic

3–0 (0–0, 2–0, 1–0)

Germany

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 9,562

December 28, 2002 15:10

Canada

4–0 (1–0, 2–0, 1–0)

Czech Republic

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

December 28, 2002 20:00

Finland

3–2 (1–0, 1–2, 1–0)

Sweden

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,089

December 29, 2002 16:10

Germany

1–4 (1–0, 0–3, 0–1)

Canada

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

December 30, 2002 16:00

Sweden

7–2 (3–0, 3–1, 1–1)

Germany

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,427

December 30, 2002 20:00

Finland

2–2 (0–0, 1–1, 1–1)

Czech Republic

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,462

December 31, 2002 16:00

Czech Republic

3–1 (0–0, 1–1, 2–0)

Sweden

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,416

December 31, 2002 20:10

Canada

5–3 (1–1, 3–2, 1–0)

Finland

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

Relegation round

Results from games played during the preliminary round were carried forward to the relegation round.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
1	Switzerland	3	3	0	0	15	7	+8	6
2	Sweden	3	2	0	1	15	11	+4	4
3	Germany	3	1	0	2	8	13	−5	2	Relegated to the 2004 Division I
4	Belarus	3	0	0	3	6	13	−7	0

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

All times local (AST/UTC-4).

January 2, 2003 12:00

Switzerland

6–2 (2–0, 3–2, 1–0)

Germany

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,111

	Tobias Stephan	Goalies	Dimitri Pätzold
	34	Shots	18

January 3, 2003 12:00

Sweden

5–4 (3–1, 0–2, 2–1)

Belarus

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,083

January 4, 2003 16:00

Sweden

3–5 (1–2, 1–2, 1–1)

Switzerland

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,210

January 4, 2003 20:00

Germany

4–0 (0–0, 2–0, 2–0)

Belarus

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,208

Playoff round

Source:^[2]

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Gold medal game

B1

Canada

3

A2

United States

4

A2

United States

2

B3

Czech Republic

3

B1

Canada

2

A1

Russia

3

A1

Russia

4

B2

Finland

6

B2

Finland

1

A3

Slovakia

0

Bronze medal game

A2

United States

2

B2

Finland

3

Quarterfinals

January 2, 2003 16:00

United States

4–3 (2–0, 2–2, 0–1)

Czech Republic

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,250

	Bobby Goepfert	Goalies	Martin Falter, Lukáš Mensator
	Helminen (Jones, Kesler) - 9:09 1-0 Parise (Brown) - 9:42 2-0 2-1 Michálek (Klepiš, Hudler) - 24:02 Kesler (Higgins, Whitney) - 26:00 3-1 Suter (Higgins, Kesler) - 26:44 4-1 4-2 Krajíček (Klepiš, Michálek) - 28:24 4-3 Hudler (Klepiš) - 53:37
	18	Shots	25

January 2, 2003 20:10

Finland

6–0 (3–0, 3–0, 0–0)

Slovakia

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,162

	Kari Lehtonen	Goalies	Ján Chovan, Peter Ševela
	25	Shots	15

Semifinals

January 3, 2003 16:10

Russia

4–1 (1–1, 0–0, 3–0)

Finland

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,527

	Andrei Medvedev	Goalies	Kari Lehtonen
	Artyukhin - 10:22 1-0 1-1 18:28 - Niinimäki (Bergenheim, Ruutu) (PP) Trubachev - 43:28 2-1 Perezhogin (Grigorenko) - 44:05 3-1 Grigorenko - 47:22 4-1
	29	Shots	26

January 3, 2003 20:10

Canada

3–2 (1–1, 1–0, 1–1)

United States

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

	Marc-André Fleury	Goalies	Robert Goepfert
	Paetsch (Wellwood) - 4:24 1-0 1-1 9:12 - Nystrom (Parise) (SH) Bouchard (Parenteau, Colaiacovo) (PP) - 37:26 2-1 2-2 41:06 - Kesler (Wisniewski, Stuart) (PP) Woywitka (Stajan, Tootoo) - 51:40 3-2
	42	Shots	15

5th place game

January 4, 2003 12:00

Czech Republic

0–2 (0–1, 0–0, 0–1)

Slovakia

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,210

	Lukáš Mensator	Goalies	Peter Ševela
	0-1 19:30 - Zagora (Špirko, Maron) 0-2 55:00- Lipka (Ševela)
	25	Shots	18

Bronze medal game

January 5, 2003 16:00

United States

2–3 (0–2, 0–1, 2–0)

Finland

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,306

	Bobby Goepfert	Goalies	Tuomas Nissinen
	0-1 9:16 - Jokinen (Kalteva) 0-2 18:15 - Juntunen (Ruutu, Jokinen) (PP) 0-3 20:31 - Pitkänen (Ruutu) 55:18 - Suter 1-3 58:04 - Brown (Parise, Shannon) 2-3
	31	Shots	21

Final

January 5, 2003 20:10

Canada

2–3 (1–1, 1–0, 0–2)

Russia

Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax Attendance: 10,594

	Marc-André Fleury	Goalies	Andrei Medvedev	Referee: Ulf Rädbjer
	0-1 11:17 – Taratukhin (Grigorenko, Perezhogin) Parenteau (Laich, White) – 12:01 1-1 Upshall (Laich, Parenteau) (PP) – 36:22 2-1 2-2 44:22 – Grigorenko (Taratukhin, Perezhogin) 2-3 51:09 – Trubachev (Polushin, Tyutin)
	24	Shots	31

Scoring leaders

Rank	Player	Country	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/−
1	Patrik Bärtschi	Switzerland	F	6	6	4	10	0	+1
1	Igor Grigorenko	Russia	F	6	6	4	10	4	+10
3	Yuri Trubachev	Russia	F	6	3	7	10	2	+9
4	Tuomo Ruutu	Finland	F	7	2	8	10	6	+6
5	Carlo Colaiacovo	Canada	D	6	1	9	10	2	-1
6	Alexander Perezhogin	Russia	F	6	3	6	9	4	+9
7	Jussi Jokinen	Finland	F	7	6	2	8	2	+4
8	Zach Parise	United States	F	7	4	4	8	4	+2
9	Alexander Polushin	Russia	F	6	2	6	8	4	+9
9	Andrei Taratukhin	Russia	F	6	2	6	8	8	+7

Goaltending leaders

Minimum 40% of team's ice time.

Rank	Player	Country	TOI	SOG	GA	GAA	Saves	Sv %	SO
1	Robert Goepfert	United States	338:05	159	10	1.77	149	93.71	0
2	Peter Ševela	Slovakia	218:46	105	7	1.92	98	93.33	2
3	Marc-André Fleury	Canada	267:28	97	7	1.57	90	92.78	1
4	Kari Lehtonen	Finland	356:40	168	13	2.19	155	92.26	2
5	Andrei Medvedev	Russia	300:00	108	9	1.80	99	91.67	1

Tournament awards

	Goaltender	Defencemen		Forwards
IIHF Directorate Awards	Marc-André Fleury	Joni Pitkänen		Igor Grigorenko
Media All-Star Team	Marc-André Fleury	Carlo Colaiacovo	Joni Pitkänen	Yuri Trubachev	Igor Grigorenko	Scottie Upshall

Final standings

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

Division I

The Division I championships were played on December 27, 2002 – January 2, 2003 in Almaty, Kazakhstan (Group A),^[3] and on December 16–22, 2002 in Bled, Slovenia (Group B).^[4]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Ukraine	5	4	1	0	18	8	+10	9	Promoted to the 2004 Top Division
2	Japan	5	4	0	1	24	10	+14	8
3	Kazakhstan	5	3	1	1	25	12	+13	7
4	France	5	2	0	3	17	13	+4	4
5	Italy	5	1	0	4	11	16	−5	2
6	Croatia	5	0	0	5	6	42	−36	0	Relegated to the 2004 Division II

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Austria	5	5	0	0	35	9	+26	10	Promoted to the 2004 Top Division
2	Slovenia	5	3	1	1	15	14	+1	7
3	Norway	5	2	1	2	17	16	+1	5
4	Latvia	5	1	1	3	13	21	−8	3
5	Denmark	5	1	1	3	18	19	−1	3
6	Poland	5	1	0	4	12	31	−19	2	Relegated to the 2004 Division II

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

Division II

The Division II championships were played on January 6–12, 2003, in Miercurea-Ciuc, Romania (Group A),^[5] and on December 28, 2002 – January 3, 2003 in Novi Sad, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Group B).^[6]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Estonia	5	5	0	0	62	8	+54	10	Promoted to the 2004 Division I
2	Great Britain	5	4	0	1	64	7	+57	8
3	Romania	5	3	0	2	34	26	+8	6
4	Lithuania	5	2	0	3	21	31	−10	4
5	South Africa	5	1	0	4	12	58	−46	2
6	Bulgaria	5	0	0	5	5	68	−63	0	Relegated to the 2004 Division III

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Hungary	5	5	0	0	47	14	+33	10	Promoted to the 2004 Division I
2	Netherlands	5	4	0	1	34	13	+21	8
3	Yugoslavia	5	3	0	2	27	22	+5	6
4	Spain	5	1	1	3	12	26	−14	3
5	Iceland	5	1	1	3	19	43	−24	3
6	Mexico	5	0	0	5	4	25	−21	0	Relegated to the 2004 Division III

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine

Division III

The Division III championship was played on January 21–26, 2003 in İzmit, Turkey.^[7]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	South Korea	4	4	0	0	37	5	+32	8	Promoted to the 2004 Division II
2	Belgium	4	3	0	1	32	10	+22	6
3	Turkey	4	2	0	2	26	16	+10	4
4	Australia	4	1	0	3	8	25	−17	2
5	Luxembourg	4	0	0	4	1	48	−47	0

Source: IIHF.com at the Wayback Machine