# 2001 IIHF World U18 Championships

The 2001 IIHF World U18 Championships were held in Heinola, Helsinki, and Lahti, Finland. The championships ran between April 12 and April 22, 2001. Games were played at the Heinolan Jäähalli in Heinola, the Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki, and the Lahden Jäähalli in Lahti. Russia defeated Switzerland 6–2 in the final to win the gold medal, with Finland defeating the Czech Republic 2–1 to capture the bronze medal.

## Championship results
### Preliminary round
#### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Finland | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 8 |
| 2 | United States | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 7 | +16 | 6 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 4 |
| 4 | Slovakia | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 15 | −1 | 2 |
| 5 | Ukraine | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 34 | −31 | 0 |

##### Results
#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Russia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 11 | +18 | 6 |
| 2 | Germany | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 5 |
| 3 | Czech Republic | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 14 | −1 | 4 |
| 4 | Sweden | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Norway | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 23 | −15 | 1 |

##### Results
### Relegation Round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 6 |
| 2 | Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 3 |
| 3 | Norway | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 3 |
| 4 | Ukraine | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 24 | −17 | 0 |
Note: The following matches from the preliminary round carry forward to the relegation round:
* April 12, 2001: Norway 3-4 Sweden
* April 16, 2001: Slovakia 10-1 Ukraine
Ukraine was relegated. However with Canada entering the tournament for 2002, Ukraine was re-instated to top level as the tournament was expanded to 12 teams for a year.

#### Results
### Final round

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | B1 | Russia | 8 | | | |
| A2 | United States | 4 | QF1 | Czech Republic | 3 | | | |
| B3 | Czech Republic | 5 | | | | SF1 | Russia | 6 |
| | | | | | | SF2 | Switzerland | 2 |
| | | | A1 | Finland | 2 | | | |
| B2 | Germany | 1 | QF2 | Switzerland | 4 | | | |
| A3 | Switzerland | 7 | | | | | | |

#### Gold medal game
### Final standings

| Rk. | Team |
| | Russia |
| | Switzerland |
| | Finland |
| 4 | Czech Republic |
| 5 | Germany |
| 6 | United States |
| 7 | Sweden |
| 8 | Slovakia |
| 9 | Norway |
| 10 | Ukraine |
Ukraine were supposed to be relegated to Division I for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships, however with the late addition of Canada it was decided to temporarily expand the tournament to twelve teams.

### Scoring leaders

| Player | Country | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | Russia | 6 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 26 |
| Igor Grigorenko | Russia | 6 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 |
| Yuri Trubachev | Russia | 6 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| Tomas Jasko | Slovakia | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Dwight Helminen | United States | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Petr Kanko | Czech Republic | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| Joey Crabb | United States | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Patrik Bärtschi | Switzerland | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Alexander Perezhogin | Russia | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Jiří Novotný | Czech Republic | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 |

### Goaltending leaders

(Minimum 60 minutes played)
| Player | Country | MINS | GA | Sv% | GAA | SO |
| Tuomas Nissinen | Finland | 120:00 | 1 | .974 | 0.50 | 1 |
| Yuri Klyuchnikov | Russia | 72:47 | 2 | .882 | 1.65 | 0 |
| Kari Lehtonen | Finland | 239:10 | 7 | .935 | 1.76 | 2 |
| Michal Zajkowski | Sweden | 120:00 | 4 | .944 | 2.00 | 0 |
| Travis Weber | United States | 180:00 | 6 | .924 | 2.00 | 1 |

## Division I
### First round

Group A (in Riga) :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | BLR | JPN | DAN | PRK |
| 1 | Belarus | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 8 | +15 | 6 | | 3–2 | 11–5 | 9–1 |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 4 | 2–3 | | 4–2 | 11–2 |
| 3 | Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 19 | −7 | 2 | 5–11 | 2–4 | | 5–4 |
| 4 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 25 | −18 | 0 | 1–9 | 2–11 | 4–5 | |
Group B (in Liepaja) :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | AUT | LAT | KAZ | ITA |
| 1 | Austria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 5 | | 3–0 | 5–3 | 2–2 |
| 2 | Latvia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 3 | 0–3 | | 5–5 | 8–1 |
| 3 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 3 | 3–5 | 5–5 | | 4–0 |
| 4 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | −11 | 1 | 2–2 | 1–8 | 0–4 | |

### Final round

5th-8th place :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | KAZ | ITA | DAN | PRK |
| 1 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 4 | +20 | 6 | | (4–0) | 8–2 | 12–2 |
| 2 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 4 | (0–4) | | 6–5 | 5–3 |
| 3 | Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 2 | 2–8 | 5–6 | | (5–4) |
| 4 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 22 | −13 | 0 | 2–12 | 3–5 | (4–5) | |
1st-4th place :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | BLR | AUT | JPN | LAT |
| 1 | Belarus | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 5 | | 4–4 | (3–2) | 7–3 |
| 2 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 4 | 4–4 | | 3–3 | (3–0) |
| 3 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 3 | (2–3) | 3–3 | | 5–2 |
| 4 | Latvia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 | −10 | 0 | 3–7 | (0–3) | 2–5 | |
Belarus were promoted to the top level, and North Korea were relegated to Division II for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.

## Division II
### First round

Group A (in Kaunas) :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | SLO | POL | CRO | HUN |
| 1 | Slovenia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | +29 | 6 | | 10–1 | 11–0 | 10–1 |
| 2 | Poland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 11 | +13 | 4 | 1–10 | | 10–1 | 13–0 |
| 3 | Croatia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 27 | −19 | 2 | 0–11 | 1–10 | | 7–6 |
| 4 | Hungary | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 30 | −23 | 0 | 1–10 | 0–13 | 6–7 | |
Group B (in Elektrėnai) :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | FRA | EST | GBR | LTU |
| 1 | France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 4 | +17 | 5 | | 4–4 | 9–0 | 8–0 |
| 2 | Estonia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 5 | 4–4 | | 6–2 | 6–2 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 2 | 0–9 | 2–6 | | 8–3 |
| 4 | Lithuania | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 22 | −17 | 0 | 0–8 | 2–6 | 3–8 | |

### Finals

7th place :
| 31 March 2001 | Kaunas | Lithuania | – | Hungary | 1:11 (0:3,1:1,0:7) |
| 5th place |||||||
| 31 March 2001 | Kaunas | Great Britain | – | Croatia | 5:4 (0:1,1:1,4:2) |
| 3rd place |||||||
| 31 March 2001 | Elektrėnai | Poland | – | Estonia | 4:2 (1:1,0:0,3:1) |
| Final |||||||
| 31 March 2001 | Elektrėnai | Slovenia | – | France | 5:2 (1:1,4:0,0:1) |
Slovenia were promoted to the Division I, and Lithuania were relegated to Division III for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.

## Division III
### First round

Group A :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | ROM | RSA | BEL | YUG |
| 1 | Romania | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | +14 | 6 | | 10–0 | 5–2 | 1–0 |
| 2 | South Africa | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 15 | −8 | 4 | 0–10 | | 3–2 | 4–3 |
| 3 | Belgium | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 2 | 2–5 | 2–3 | | 4–1 |
| 4 | Yugoslavia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 0 | 0–1 | 3–4 | 1–4 | |
Group B :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | NED | ESP | BUL | ISR |
| 1 | Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 3 | +32 | 6 | | 11–0 | 14–1 | 10–2 |
| 2 | Spain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 16 | +3 | 4 | 0–11 | | 13–2 | 6–3 |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 27 | −22 | 2 | 1–14 | 2–13 | | 2–0 |
| 4 | Israel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 18 | −13 | 0 | 2–10 | 3–6 | 0–2 | |

### Final

7th place :
| 11 March 2001 | Sofia | Yugoslavia | – | Israel | 7:6 n.P. (1:2,2:3,3:1,0:0,1:0) |
| 5th place |||||||
| 11 March 2001 | Sofia | Bulgaria | – | Belgium | 3:11 (1:2,0:4,2:5) |
| 3rd place |||||||
| 11 March 2001 | Sofia | Spain | – | South Africa | 8:1 (4:0,2:1,2:0) |
| Final |||||||
| 11 March 2001 | Sofia | Netherlands | – | Romania | 4:3 (1:1,2:0,1:2) |
Netherlands were promoted to the Division II, and Israel were relegated to Division III Qualification (which was not played, Israel returned to competition in 2003) for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.