1997 IIHF European U18 Championship

The 1997 IIHF European U18 Championship was the thirtieth playing of the IIHF European Junior Championships.
==Group A==
Played April 12th to the 20th, in Znojmo and Trebic Czech Republic. Switzerland shocked everyone by opening the tournament with wins over the Czechs and the Russians. Although they tired by the end of the tournament, their win over Slovakia assured them of their first (and only) medal in the European Juniors.
=== First round ===
;Group 1
Team	SUI	CZE	RUS	UKR	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	4:3	6:2	2:4	12:9 	4
2. 	3:4	 	4:4	8:1	15:9 	3
3. 	2:6	4:4	 	8:2	14:12	3
4. 	4:2	1:8	2:8	 	7:18 	2
;Group 2
Team	FIN	SWE	SVK	GER	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	3:3	5:0	3:0	11:3 	5
2. 	3:3	 	6:2	6:3	15:8 	5
3. 	0:5	2:6	 	7:2	9:13 	2
4. 	0:3	3:6	2:7	 	5:16 	0
=== Final round=== 
;Championship round
Team	FIN 	SWE 	SUI 	RUS 	CZE 	SVK 	GF 	Points
1. 	 	(3:3)	8:1 	4:2 	3:2 	(5:0)	23:8 	9
2. 	(3:3)	 	4:2 	4:4 	4:1 	(6:2)	21:12	8
3. 	1:8 	2:4 	 	(6:2)	(4:3)	3:0 	16:17	6
4. 	2:4 	4:4 	(2:6)	 	(4:4)	8:3 	20:21	4
5. 	2:3 	1:4 	(3:4)	(4:4)	 	4:2 	14:17	3
6. 	(0:5)	(2:6)	0:3 	3:8 	2:4 	 	7:26 	0
;7th place
	2:1(1:0, 0:1, 1:0)	2:5(0:3, 2:0, 0:2)	2:1 o.t.(1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0)		
Germany, losing the best of three series in overtime, was relegated to Group B for 1998.
==Tournament Awards==
*Top Scorer Marko Kauppinen (9 points)
*Top Goalie: Mika Noronen
*Top Defenceman:Jonas Elofsson
*Top Forward: Michel Riesen
Kauppinen, a defensman, set a record for the lowest point total to lead a tournament.
== Group B ==
Played March 21st to the 30th, in Maribor and Celje Slovenia.
===First round ===
;Group 1
Team	NOR	POL	BLR	SLO	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	4:2	5:2	3:4	12:8 	4
2. 	2:4	 	7:3	4:2	13:9 	4
3. 	2:5	3:7	 	5:4	10:16	2
4. 	4:3	2:4	4:5	 	10:12	2
;Group 2
Team	DEN	HUN	FRA	ITA	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	4:3	6:4	6:0	16:7 	6
2. 	3:4	 	5:3	6:5	14:12	4
3. 	4:6	3:5	 	6:5	13:16	2
4. 	0:6	5:6	5:6	 	10:18	0
=== Final round=== 
;Championship round
Team	NOR 	POL 	HUN 	BLR 	DEN 	FRA 	Team 	Points
1. 	 	(4:2)	2:2 	(5:2)	4:3 	2:2 	17:11	8
2. 	(2:4)	 	5:5 	(7:3)	6:4 	3:1 	23:17	7
3. 	2:2 	5:5 	 	1:1 	(3:4)	(5:3)	16:15	5
4. 	(2:5)	(3:7)	1:1 	 	4:2 	8:6 	18:21	5
5. 	3:4 	4:6 	(4:3)	2:4 	 	(6:4)	19:21	4
6. 	2:2 	1:3 	(3:5)	6:8 	(4:6)	 	16:24	1
;7th place
	7:3(3:1, 3:0, 1:2)	7:2(3:0, 4:1, 0:1)		
Norway was promoted to Group A, and Slovenia was relegated to Group C, for 1998.
== Group C ==
Played March 12th to the 16th in Miercurea-Ciuc and Gheorgheni Romania.
===First round===
;Group 1
Team	GBR	EST	ROM	NED	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	8:0	5:2	3:1	16:3 	6
2. 	0:8	 	3:2	8:4	11:14	4
3. 	2:5	2:3	 	5:0	9:8 	2
4. 	1:3	4:8	0:5	 	5:16 	0
;Group 2
Team	LAT 	AUT	LTU 	CRO	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	3:3	10:2	5:1	18:6 	5
2. 	3:3 	 	6:1 	1:0	10:4 	5
3. 	2:10	1:6	 	5:2	8:18 	2
4. 	1:5 	0:1	2:5 	 	3:11 	0
=== Placing round ===
7th place		2:1(1:0, 1:0, 0:1) 		
5th place		4:2(1:0, 1:2, 2:0) 		
3rd place		4:3 o.t.(2:1, 0:0, 1:2, 1:0)		
Final 		4:3(0:2, 3:0, 1:1) 		
Great Britain was promoted to Group B and the Netherlands was relegated to Group D, for 1998.
== Group D==
Played in Belgrade Yugoslavia from March 4th to 9th. The hosts completely dominated, with forward Csaba Prokec scoring 29 points in their 5 games.Group D
Team	YUG 	ESP 	BUL 	ISR 	ISL 	TUR 	GF/GA	Points
1. 	 	11:0	16:2	14:2	21:0	52:1	114:5	10
2. 	0:11	 	5:3 	3:3 	11:6	20:3	39:26	7
3. 	2:16	3:5 	 	5:3 	5:2 	7:0 	22:26	6
4. 	2:14	3:3 	3:5 	 	9:5 	13:0	30:27	5
5. 	0:21	6:11	2:5 	5:9 	 	4:2 	17:48	2
6. 	1:52	3:20	0:7 	0:13	2:4 	 	6:96 	0
Yugoslavia was promoted to Group C for 1998.
==References==
*Complete results
*
Category:European Junior Championships
Category:1997 in hockey
Category:IIHF World U18 Championships