# 2016 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship

The 2016 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship was the ninth IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in ice hockey organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

## Top Division

The Top Division tournament was played during 8 to 15 January 2016 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

### Match officials

Six referees and nine linesmen were selected for the tournament. Christer Englund [sv] of Sweden was the tournament chairperson.

### Preliminary round
#### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | +15 | 9 | Advance to semifinals |
| 2 | Canada (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 6 | Advance to semifinals |
| 3 | Russia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 3 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 20 | −18 | 0 | Advance to quarterfinals |

#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 6 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 2 | Finland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 6 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 3 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 6 | Advance to relegation round |
| 4 | France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 24 | −23 | 0 | Advance to relegation round |
* 1 2 3 Sweden 3 Pts, +2 GD; Finland 3 Pts, 0 GD; Switzerland 3 Pts, −2 GD

### Relegation round

The third and fourth placed team from Group B played a best-of-three series to determine the relegated team.

### Final round
#### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | A1 | United States | 4 | | | |
| A4 | Czech Republic | 2 | B1 | Sweden | 0 | | | |
| B1 | Sweden | 3 | | | | A1 | United States | 3 |
| | | | | | | A2 | Canada | 2 |
| | | | A2 | Canada | 4 |
| A3 | Russia | 3 | A3 | Russia | 0 |
| B2 | Finland | 0 | | | | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | B1 | Sweden | 2 |
| | | | | | | A3 | Russia | 1 |

#### Gold medal game
### Final rankings

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | A | United States | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | +20 | 14 | Champions |
| 2 | A | Canada (H) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 10 | Runners-up |
| 3 | B | Sweden | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 12 | Third place |
| 4 | A | Russia | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 6 | Fourth place |
| 5 | A | Czech Republic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 24 | −17 | 3 | Fifth place game |
| 6 | B | Finland | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 6 | Fifth place game |
| 7 | B | Switzerland | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 12 | Win Relegation game |
| 8 | B | France | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 31 | −29 | 0 | Relegation to Division I A |

### Tournament awards
#### Best players selected by the directorate

| Best Goalkeeper | Emma Söderberg |
| Best Defenseman | Cayla Barnes |
| Best Forward | Alina Müller |
Source: IIHF

#### Media All Stars

| Goalkeeper | Emma Söderberg |
| Defenceman | Cayla Barnes |
| Defenceman | Jessica Adolfsson |
| Forward | Fanuza Kadirova |
| Forward | Ashton Bell |
| Forward | Alina Müller |
| Most Valuable Player | Valeria Tarakanova |
Source: IIHF

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

| Pos | Player | Country | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| 1 | Alina Müller | Switzerland | 5 | 7 | 2 | 9 | +5 | 10 |
| 2 | Natalie Snodgrass | United States | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | +8 | 6 |
| 3 | Fanuza Kadirova | Russia | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | +1 | 0 |
| 4 | Rahel Enzler | Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +4 | 0 |
| 5 | Jessica Adolfsson | Sweden | 6 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +2 | 6 |
| 6 | Rebecca Gilmore | United States | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +6 | 0 |
| 6 | Petra Nieminen | Finland | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +4 | 2 |
| 8 | Celine Tedenby | Sweden | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +2 | 6 |
| 9 | Ashton Bell | Canada | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +6 | 0 |
| 10 | Jenniina Nylund | Finland | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +2 | 4 |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: IIHF

#### Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)
| Pos | Player | Country | TOI | GA | GAA | Sv% | SO |
| 1 | Alex Gulstene | United States | 181:47 | 3 | 0.99 | 95.45 | 1 |
| 2 | Tiia Pajarinen | Finland | 179:36 | 4 | 1.34 | 93.33 | 0 |
| 3 | Emma Söderberg | Sweden | 240:00 | 7 | 1.75 | 93.27 | 0 |
| 4 | Vanessa Bolinger | Switzerland | 279:36 | 6 | 1.29 | 91.04 | 2 |
| 5 | Valeria Tarakanova | Russia | 288:40 | 14 | 2.91 | 90.07 | 1 |
TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF

## Division I
### Division I

The Division I tournament was played in Miskolc, Hungary during 10 to 16 January 2016.
| Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| Japan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2 | +16 | 15 | Promoted to 2017 Top Division |
| Germany | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 11 | |
| Slovakia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 10 | |
| Norway | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 6 | |
| Hungary (H) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 24 | −20 | 3 | |
| Denmark | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 20 | −18 | 0 | Relegated to 2017 Division I Group B |

### Division I Qualification

The Division I Qualification tournament was played in Spittal an der Drau and Radenthein, Austria during 7 to 11 January 2016. The teams were divided into two groups of four where the winners played off against each other for promotion to the 2017 Division I Group A tournament. The teams ranking second through sixth remained in the newly titled Division I Group B and were joined by the relegated team from the 2016 Division I tournament. As the lowest ranking teams, Romania and Australia were relegated to the new Division I Group B Qualification tournament.
Austria won the tournament and gained promotion to the 2017 Division I Group A tournament.
| Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Austria | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | +19 | 9 |
| Kazakhstan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 6 |
| China | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 3 |
| Romania | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 36 | −33 | 0 |
| Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Italy | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 9 |
| Great Britain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 6 |
| Poland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 3 |
| Australia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 22 | −20 | 0 |