2008 World Junior A Challenge The 2008 World Junior A Challenge was an international Junior " A " ice hockey tournament hosted by Hockey Canada . The 2008 World Junior A Challenge was hosted by the Canadian City of Camrose , Alberta from November 1 to November 9 , 2008 at the Edgeworth Centre . The opening ceremony included a performance from Tom Cochrane . Teams . Same as the 2007 World Junior A Challenge , the 2008 edition will include Belarus , Canada East and West , Germany , Russia , and the United States . Slovakia , again , is not competing and has not since the 2006 World Junior A Challenge . Summary . Exhibition . Only three exhibition games were scheduled for prior to the 2008 WJAC tournament . On October 29 , Canada West challenged the varsity team from Augustana College . The West defeated Augustana 9 - 2 . The same night , Canada East played the varsity team from Portage College . The East was victorious , taking the game 7 - 1 . Two nights later , Canada East and Canada West met in Camrose for an exhibition rematch of the 2006 and 2007 tournament finals . The East took the game 4 - 2 . Round Robin . On November 2 , the tournament kicked off with the opening game between Belarus and defending 2 - time champion Canada West . The West went up early 2 - 0 only to have Belarus take one back late in the first frame . The West entered the second period with a 2 - 1 lead only to give up costly goals 13 seconds and 28 seconds into the frame - - leading to a Belorussian 3 - 2 lead . Around two minutes later the Canadians came back to tie the game at 3 ' s . There was no scoring during the rest of regulation . Overtime was uneventful , so the game went to a shootout . Belarus ' Bialinski stopped all three penalty shots , while Canada ' s Bodnarchuk let in his first , shot by Yauheni Salamonau , and stopped his second . The result was a 4 - 3 upset victory for a Belorussian squad that had only won once in its last 8 WJAC games . The early game on November 3 was between the Germans and Canada East . After giving up a goal 49 seconds into the game to Germany , the East team scored 3 goals in the first period and never looked back in a 6 - 3 victory . The Germans looked solid in the game despite only having won a single WJAC game in eight tried entering the game . In the late game , the Russians faced Belarus . Riding the momentum of 4 early goals in the first and second , the Russians cruised to their first win of the tournament , 10 - 4 . The loss was on the heals of a Belorussian upset of the two - time defending champion Canada West and gives the West a chance at first with a big enough win over the Russians in their final game of the round robin . On November 4 , the Germans set the stage for the second massive upset of this World Junior A Challenge . The Americans , playing their first game of the tournaments , led 1 - 0 after the first and 2 - 0 early in the second period . That is when the bottom dropped out . Germany started scoring and just did not stop . In the end , the Germans scored 5 unanswered goals and won the game 5 - 2 . The Germans finish the round robin with a win and a loss , awaiting the outcome of the November 5 game between the Americans and Canada East . In the late game , Canada West was triumphant over the Russian squad , overcoming an early deficit to win the game 5 - 2 . This win gives all three teams in Pool A a 1 - 1 record , but because Canada West ' s loss was in overtime they clinch the tie - breaker and get a bye past the quarter - final . The single November 5 game was between Canada East and the Americans . It would close out the round robin . The Americans came out on fire and defeated the East 5 - 3 . This left each team in Pool B with a 1 - 1 - 0 record . Because of goal differential , Canada East still won first place and the United States had to settle on third place behind the Germans . Quarter - final . In the first quarter - final , Pool A ' s second seed Russia took on Pool B ' s third seed the United States . The Americans put the boots to the Russians early , building up a 5 - 0 lead by the midway point of the game . Russia potted two quick goals at the end of the second period , but like the first , the third was all USA with three more insurance markers . The Americans crushed the Russians 8 - 2 . The Americans move on to the semi - final against Canada East while the Russians are relegated to the 5th place match . The second quarter - final was won on the heroics of Siarhei Drozd whose natural hat trick gave the Belorussians enough momentum to survive a late German onslaught and win the game . The Germans fall back to the 5th place game against the Russians , while the Belorussians will meet Canada West in the second semi - final . 5th Place and Semi - final . The Russians found themselves in the 5th place match for the first time in their WJAC history , against the Germans who hold a win over the Americans - the team that eliminated Russia from medal contention . All this did not matter though , as the Russians dismantled the Germans withan 8 - 2 victory to close out the tournament on a winning note . In the first semi - final , Canada East was up against the only team to defeat them so far in the 2008 WJAC - the Americans . This would be no day for revenge as the United States upended the Eastern squad 5 - 1 in front of 1525 fans . For the first time in WJAC , there will be no All - Canada final as Canada East is left competing for Bronze . The United States will compete for Gold for the first time , as last year at their first WJAC they won Bronze . The second semi - final pitted Canada West against the only team to defeat them so far in the tournament , Belarus . The West led 1 - 0 after the first and Belarus tied the score 1 - 1 early in the second . The Canadians then battened down the hatches and scored 2 more goals to close out the period and another insurance marker in the third to win 4 - 1 . The Belorussians move to the Bronze medal game against Canada East , while Canada West goes to their third straight Gold medal game at the WJACs . Bronze and Gold . In the Bronze Medal game , Canada East competed against Belarus . The Belorussians were no match for the Canada East squad who crushed Belarus 9 - 1 . After two consecutive Silvers in WJAC - event , the Canada East squad settles for Bronze in 2008 . The Gold Medal game was between two tough squads : the United States and Canada West . The Canada West team were the two - time defending Gold medalists , while the Americans were 2007 Bronze Medalists who just got done manhandling Russia and Canada East to get to the Gold Medal match . In the end , it was barely a contest - led by Tournament MVP Mike Cichy , the Americans walked all over Canada West to win the Gold with a 7 - 1 score . Awards . All - Star Team Rosters . Belarus . Players : Vitali Bialinski , Valeri Bojarskih , Kiryl Brykun , Pavel Dashkou , Siarhei Drozd , Nikolai Goncharov , Aleh Haroshka , Ilya Kaznadzei , Andrei Kolasau , Dzmitry Korabau , Aliaksei Kuveka , Vitali Marchanka , Uladzimir Mikhailau , Anatol Panou , Pavel Razvadouski , Yauheni Salamonau , Illa Shinkevitch , Yahor Stsiapanau , Mikalai Susla , Ihar Varashylau , Dzmitry Verameichyk , Dzmitry Volkau , Aliaksandr Yeronau , Aliaksandr Zhuk Staff : Vaily Spiridonov , Pavel Perapekhin , Vasilij Pankov , Vyatcheslav Gusov , Ihar Karachun , Heorhi Zatkouski , Dzmitry Klaskouski , Sergei Opimakh Canada East . Players : Braden Birch , Nick D ’ Agostino , Dustin Darou , Scott Dawson , Jordan Escott , Jeremy Franklin , Andrew Hare , Zach Hervato , Stephen Horyl , Pierre - Luc Lacombe , Jacob Laliberte , Greg Miller , Marty O ' Grady , David Pacan , Brandon Pirri , David Pratt , Jeremy Price , Ben Sexton , Shawn Sirman , Reilly Smith , Lindsay Sparks , Mike Wills Staff : Mark Grady , Patrice Bosch , Troy Ryan , Marty Abrams , Brent Ladds , Bob Baird , Darren Allan Canada West . Players : Andrew Bodnarchuk , Tommy Brown , Aaron Dell , Tanner Fritz , Kevin Genoe , Derek Grant , Matt Grassi , Tim Hayduk , James Kerr , Scott Macaulay , Michael MacDonald , Matt Mackay , Andrew MacWilliam , Denver Manderson , Curtis McKenzie , Dylan Olsen , Brodie Reid , Derek Rodwell , Justin Schultz , Jaden Schwartz , Rylan Schwartz , Steven Seigo , Travis Statchuk , Cole Wilson , Michael Young Staff : Boris Rybalka , Dwight McMillan , Rylan Ferster , Ken Miske , Brent Sawchuk , Norm Zunti , Leonard Strandberg , Kim Davis Germany . Players : Sinan Akdag , Dominik Bielke , Benedikt Bruckner , Maximilian Englbrecht , Jerome Flaake , Andreas Gawlik , Patrick Geiger , Martin Hinterstocker , André Huebscher , Markus Keller , Florian Muller , Marco Nowak , Alexander Oblinger , Daniel Oppolzer , Patrick Pohl , Steven Rupprich , Gregor Stein , Soren Sturm , Dominic Walsh , Daniel Weiss , Marc Wittforth , David Wolf Staff : Ernst Hofner , Jeffrey Tomlinson , Wolfgang Fischer , Jorg Lochbihler , Michael Pfuhl Russia . Players : Sergey Barbashev , Roman Berdnikov , Georgy Berdyukov , Igor Bobkov , Stanislav Bocharov , Anton Burdasov , Alexander Burmistrov , Sergey Chvanov , Georgy Dulnev , Kirill Kabanov , Stanislav Kalashnikov , Dmitry Kanifadin , Alexander Karpushkin , Anton Kavera , Maxim Kitsin , Yevgeni Kuznetsov , Kirill Lebedev , Vladimir Malinovsky , Dmitry Orlov , Nikita Pivtsakin , Eduard Reyzvikh , Dmitry Shikin , Stanislav Solovyev , Vladimir Tarasenko , Semen Valuyskiy , Kirll Yuryev , Pavel Zotov , Vitaly Zotov Staff : Vladimir Plyuschev , Sergey Petrenko , Igor Ostapchuk , Dmitry Kondrashin , Oleg Kuchenev , Alexey Sasin , Alexander Shapiro United States . Players : Josh Balch , Josh Birkholz , Greg Burke , Rocco Carzo , Mike Cichy , Matt Donovan , David Gerths , Seth Helgeson , Joe Howe , Danny Kristo , Nick Larson , Mike Lee , Dave Makowski , Lee Moffie , John Moore , Pat Mullane , Maxim Nicastro , Nick Oddo , Darren Rowe , Craig Smith , Matt White Staff : Mark Carlson , Bliss Littler , Todd Knott , Darrin Flinchem , Todd Klein , David Peck , Marc Boxer