| World U-17 Hockey Challenge | |
| |
| Organizer: | Hockey Canada |
|---|---|
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Last event: | 2012, Windsor, Ontario |
| Next event: | 2013 |
| Current champion: |  Russia
|
The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, is an international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada. Prior to 2011,[NB 1] the tournament did not operate during years in which the Canada Winter Games were held. As such, the World Under-17 Challenge was 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 not an official World Championship, as it organized entirely by Hockey Canada. The IIHF holds the World Under-18 Championships each April.
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.
2011
The 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge was held in Winnipeg, and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The majority of games were played at the new MTS Iceplex in Winnipeg and PCU Centre in Portage la Prairie. The championship game was held on January 4 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, with Team Ontario defeating the United States 5-3 in front of a record crowd of 12,060.[1]
Participating teams
Canada enters five regional teams from across the country. These teams are:
Canada Atlantic (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island)
Canada Quebec- Canada Ontario
- Canada West (Manitoba and Saskatchewan)
- Canada Pacific (Alberta and British Columbia)
Other participating nations have included:
- United States
- Finland
- Russia
- Sweden
- Slovakia
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Soviet Union (now defunct)
- Czechoslovakia (now defunct)
Results
Medal Table
| Country |  Gold
|
 Silver
|
 Bronze
|
Medals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Ontario
|
8 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
 United States of America
|
3 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| Canada Quebec
|
3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
 Russia Soviet Union |
2 1 3 |
0 1 1 |
0 1 1 |
2 3 5 |
| Canada West
|
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
 Finland
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Canada Pacific
|
0 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
 Sweden
|
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
 Czech Republic Czechoslovakia |
0 0 0 |
1 0 1 |
1 1 2 |
2 1 3 |
| Canada Atlantic
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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
- Jeremy Roenick, Team USA, 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, 1992
- Ethan Moreau, Team Ontario, 1992
- Todd Harvey, Team Ontario, 1992
- Jamie Storr, Team Ontario, 1992
- Alexandre Daigle, Team Quebec, 1992
- Éric Dazé, Team Quebec, 1992
- Jocelyn Thibault, Team Quebec, 1992
- Radek Bonk, Team Czechoslovakia, 1992
- Viktor Kozlov, Team USSR, 1992
- Adam Deadmarsh, Team Pacific, 1992
- Darcy Tucker, Team Pacific, 1992
- Niklas Sundström, Team Sweden, 1992
- 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
- Ryan Kesler, Team USA, 2001
- Alexander Ovechkin, Team Russia, 2002
- Jack Johnson, Team USA, 2004
- Phil Kessel, Team USA, 2004
- Jonathan Toews, Team West, 2005
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The ice hockey tournament at the 2011 Canada Games was supposed be held in place of a 2011 tournament. This is no longer true. The Canada Games tourney is now for U16 players, which will be played at the 2011 Games in Halifax. The U17 tournament will be played as planned in Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The female U18s nationals is off this year due to the Canada Games, but not the men.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Split events were held in 1998
References
- ↑ Ontario crowned U17 Challenge champions. Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved on 2011-01-05.
External Links
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