2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship was the 40th World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. It was hosted in Helsinki, Finland. It began on December 26, 2015, and ended with the gold medal game on January 5, 2016. This marked the sixth time that Finland has hosted the WJC, and the hosts defeated Russia 4–3 in overtime to win their fourth title in history and second in the last three years. Belarus was relegated to Division I-A for 2017 by merit of their tenth-place finish, while Finnish right winger Jesse Puljujärvi earned MVP and top scorer honors.
== Player eligibility ==
A player is eligible to play in the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships if:
* the player is of male gender;
* the player was born at the earliest in 1996, and at the latest, in 2001;
* the player is a citizen in the country he represents;
* the player is under the jurisdiction of a national association that is a member of the IIHF.
If a player who has never played in IIHF-organized competition wishes to switch national eligibility, he must have played in competitions for two consecutive years in the new country without playing in another country, as well as show his move to the new country's national association with an international transfer card. In case the player has previously played in IIHF-organized competition but wishes to switch national eligibility, he must have played in competitions for four consecutive years in the new country without playing in another country, he must show his move to the new country's national association with an international transfer card, as well as be a citizen of the new country. A player may only switch national eligibility once.
==Top Division==
===Venues===
Hartwall ArenaCapacity: 13,349	Helsinki Ice HallCapacity: 8,200
 	
– Helsinki 	– Helsinki
===Officials===
The IIHF selected 12 referees and 10 linesmen to officiate during the tournament:
Referees
* Alexei Anisimov
* Andris Ansons
* Stefan Fonselius
* Brett Iverson
* Daniel Konc
* Mikael Nord
* Vladimir Pešina
* Daniel Piechaczek
* Christopher Pitoscia
* Aleksi Rantala
* Jean-Philippe Sylvain
* Marc Wiegand
Linesmen
* Nicolas Chartrand-Piche
* Matjaž Hribar
* Rene Jensen
* Roman Kaderli
* Pasi Nieminen
* Brian Oliver
* Alexander Otmakhov
* Henrik Pihlblad
* Hannu Sormunen
* Alexander Waldejer
== Results ==
=== Preliminary round ===
====Format====
The four best ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advance to the quarterfinals, while the last placed team from both groups play a relegation round in a best of three format to determine the relegated team.
All times are local. (Eastern European Time – UTC+2)
	Team qualified to Quarterfinals
	Team will play in Relegation round
====Group A====
Team	GP	W	OW	OL	L	GF	GA	PTS
 	4 	4	0 	0 	0	19	5 	12
 	4 	3	0 	0 	1	18	5 	9
 	4 	1	1 	0 	2	13	12	5
 	4 	1	0 	0 	3	4 	16	3
 	4 	0	0 	1 	3	7 	23	1
====Group B====
Team	GP	W	OW	OL	L	GF	GA	PTS
 	4 	3	1 	0 	0	14	7 	11
 	4 	3	0 	0 	1	23	13	9
 	4 	2	0 	1 	1	12	10	7
 	4 	1	0 	0 	3	8 	14	3
 	4 	0	0 	0 	4	6 	19	0
===Relegation===
===Playoff round===
====Quarterfinals====
====Semifinals====
====Bronze medal game====
====Final====
== Statistics ==
=== Scoring leaders ===
Pos	Player 	Country	GP	G	A 	Pts	+/−	PIM
1 	Jesse Puljujärvi 	 	7 	5	12	17 	+8 	0
2 	Sebastian Aho 	 	7 	5	9 	14 	+9 	4
3 	Patrik Laine 	 	7 	7	6 	13 	+8 	6
4 	Auston Matthews 	 	7 	7	4 	11 	+6 	2
5 	Matthew Tkachuk 	 	7 	4	7 	11 	+7 	6
6 	Alexander Nylander	 	7 	4	5 	9 	+5 	0
7 	Zach Werenski 	 	7 	2	7 	9 	+10	4
8 	Denis Malgin 	 	6 	1	8 	9 	−1 	6
9 	Olli Juolevi 	 	7 	0	9 	9 	+6 	4
10 	Christian Dvorak 	 	7 	3	5 	8 	+8 	0
10 	Adrian Kempe 	 	7 	3	5 	8 	+1 	8
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF 
=== Goaltending leaders ===
(minimum 40% team's total ice time)
Pos	Player 	Country	TOI 	GA	GAA 	Sv% 	SO
1 	Linus Söderström	 	295:28	7 	1.42	94.70	2
2 	Alex Nedeljkovic	 	325:52	9 	1.66	94.27	1
3 	Thomas Lillie 	 	185:00	10	3.24	91.45	0
4 	Kaapo Kähkönen 	 	214:13	9 	2.52	90.91	0
5 	Adam Huska 	 	292:30	19	3.90	89.89	0
TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF
===Tournament awards===
Reference: 
Most Valuable Player
* Forward: Jesse Puljujärvi
All-star team
* Goaltender: Linus Söderström
* Defencemen: Olli Juolevi, Zach Werenski
* Forwards: Jesse Puljujärvi, Patrik Laine, Auston Matthews
IIHF best player awards
* Goaltender: Linus Söderström
* Defenceman: Zach Werenski
* Forward: Jesse Puljujärvi
===Final standings===
 	Team
 	
 	
 	
4th 	
5th 	
6th 	
7th 	
8th 	
9th 	
10th	
Relegated to the 2017 Division I A
Note that due to the lack of playoff games for determining the spots 5–8, these spots were determined by the preliminary round records for each team.
==Division I==
===Group A===
The Division I A tournament was played in Vienna, Austria, from 13 to 19 December 2015.Division IA statistics
|}
Promoted to the 2017 Top Division	Relegated to the 2017 Division I B
===Group B===
The Division I B tournament was played in Megève, France, from 12 to 18 December 2015.Division IB statistics Prior to the start of the tournament Japan withdrew, and was relegated for 2017.Japan withdraws
|}
Promoted to the 2017 Division I A	Relegated to the 2017 Division II A
==Division II==
===Group A===
The Division II A tournament was played in Elektrėnai, Lithuania, from 13 to 19 December 2015.Division II A statistics
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Promoted to the 2017 Division I B	Relegated to the 2017 Division II B
===Group B===
The Division II B tournament was played in Novi Sad, Serbia, from 17 to 23 January 2016.Division II B statistics
|}
Promoted to the 2017 Division II A	Relegated to the 2017 Division III
==Division III==
The Division III tournament was played in Mexico City, Mexico, from 15 to 24 January 2016.Division III statistics
|}
Promoted to the 2017 Division II B
==References==
==External links==
* Official site for the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
==See also==
Category:2015 in ice hockey
Category:2016 in ice hockey
2016
Category:World Junior Championships