# 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. 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.
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 |

## 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 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Switzerland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 2 | Relegation round |
| 5 | Belarus | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 28 | −22 | 0 | Relegation round |
All times local (AST/UTC-4).

#### 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 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Sweden | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 16 | −4 | 2 | Relegation round |
| 5 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 18 | −15 | 0 | Relegation round |
All times local (AST/UTC-4).

### 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 | Relegated to the 2004 Division I |
All times local (AST/UTC-4).

### Playoff round

Source:
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Gold medal game | Gold medal game | 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 | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| | | | | | | A2 | United States | 2 |
| | | | | | | B2 | Finland | 3 |

#### Final
### 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 | Defencemen | Forwards | Forwards | Forwards |
| IIHF Directorate Awards | Marc-André Fleury | Joni Pitkänen | Joni Pitkänen | Igor Grigorenko | Igor Grigorenko | 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), and on December 16–22, 2002 in Bled, Slovenia (Group B).

### 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 |

### 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 |

## Division II

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

### 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 |

### 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 |

## Division III

The Division III championship was played on January 21–26, 2003 in İzmit, Turkey.
| 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 | Promoted to the 2004 Division II |
| 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 | |