The Group A tournament began on 3 April 2005 in Maribor, Slovenia. Austria, France, Kazakhstan, and Slovenia all returned to compete in this years Division I tournament after missing promotion to the Championship Division at the previous years World Championships. Great Britain gained promotion to Division I after finishing first in last years Division II Group B tournament and Belarus was relegated from the Championship Division after failing to survive the relegation round at the 2004 IIHF World U18 Championship.