World U-17 Hockey Challenge

The World U-17 Hockey Challenge ( Québec Esso Cup until 1990 ) is an ice hockey tournament for U17 national teams that has been held in Canada since 1986 and has been held annually since 2008. The competition is organized by the Canadian ice hockey association Hockey Canada and is considered the most important international tournament in this age group. It is thus in line with the World Junior A Challenge for juniors in the U20 age group, which, however , receives significantly less attention due to the U20 World Championships organized by the IIHF . The record winner of the event is Team Canada Ontario with eight gold medals.

history

The competition started in 1986 under the name Québec Esso Cup and was considered the unofficial world championship in junior ice hockey during this time. The Canadian Association also used it to spot talent for the junior national teams in the U18 and U20 age groups. The competition, which was held for the first time, was initially held with ten teams - including five regionally composed Canadian teams from the respective provinces and territories as well as from Finland , Sweden , the United States , Czechoslovakia and the USSR .

The competition continued to operate under the name Québec Esso Cup until 1990 , before it was renamed the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge . The two-year cycle was maintained until 1994. The competition then took place seven times by 2002, so that it was held in three out of four years on average. In 1998 there were two separate tournaments. It has been held annually since 2000, but was replaced in 2003 and 2007 by the Canada Winter Games ice hockey tournament - in this case without international participation. Until 2014, the tournament took place at the turn of the year, but two competitions were held that year to establish the new period at the end of October and beginning of November. At the same time, the field of participants in the Canadian selections was changed, which no longer had five (Atlantic, Québec, Ontario, West, Pacific), but now only three teams (White, Red, Black), which are also no longer subject to regional differentiation. The field of participants was thus reduced from ten to eight.

Historically, the tournament has been dominated by the Canadian selections, which won 14 of the 24 events, but also provided the majority of the teams. The province of Ontario is the most successful team with eight tournament wins and another five medals.

Attendees

Canada has had three participants since 2014, who are no longer divided according to regional criteria:

• Canada White
• Canada Red
• Canada Black

In addition, the following countries are participating or have participated:

• Germany
• Finland
• Russia
• Sweden
• Slovakia
• Czech Republic
• Czechoslovakia
• USSR
• United States

Tournament overview

year	gold	silver	bronze	venue
1986	Canada Québec	USSR	Canada Pacific	Quebec City , Quebec
1988	USSR	Sweden	Canada Québec	Quebec City , Quebec
1990	Finland	Canada Québec	USSR	Quebec City , Quebec
1992	Canada Ontario	Canada Québec	Czechoslovakia	Sudbury , Ontario
1994	Canada Québec	United States	Canada Pacific	Amos , Quebec
1995	Canada Ontario	Finland	Canada Québec	Moncton , New Brunswick
1997	Canada Ontario	Sweden	Canada Québec	Red Deer , Alberta
1998	Canada Ontario	Czech Republic	Canada Québec	Kitchener , Ontario
	Canada West	United States	Finland	Swift Current , Saskatchewan
2000	Russia	Canada Ontario	Canada Pacific	10 locations in Québec and Ontario
2001	United States	Canada Pacific	Canada Ontario	New Glasgow and Truro , Nova Scotia
2002	United States	Canada Pacific	Canada Ontario	Selkirk and Stonewall , Manitoba
2004	Canada Ontario	Canada Pacific	Canada Québec	St. John's and Mount Pearl , Newfoundland and Labrador
2005	Canada West	Canada Pacific	Canada Atlantic	Lethbridge , Alberta
2006	Canada Québec	United States	Czech Republic	8 locations in Saskatchewan
2008	Canada Ontario	United States	Canada West	6 locations in Ontario
2009	Canada Ontario	Canada Pacific	United States	6 locations in British Columbia
2010	United States	Canada Ontario	Sweden	6 locations in Ontario
2011	Canada Ontario	United States	Canada Pacific	Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie , Manitoba
2012	Russia	United States	Canada Ontario	Windsor , LaSalle and Tecumseh , Ontario
2013	Sweden	Russia	United States	Victoriaville and Drummondville , Québec
2014 (Jan.)	United States	Canada Pacific	Russia	Sydney , North Sydney and Port Hawkesbury , Nova Scotia
2014 (Nov.)	Russia	United States	Sweden	Sarnia and Lambton Shores , Ontario
2015	Canada White	Russia	Sweden	Dawson Creek and Fort St. John , British Columbia
2016	Sweden	Canada Black	Russia	Sault Ste. Marie , Ontario
2017	United States	Canada Red	Czech Republic	Dawson Creek and Fort St. John , British Columbia
2018	Russia	Finland	Sweden	Saint John and Quispamsis , New Brunswick
2019	Russia	United States	Czech Republic	Medicine Hat , Alberta and Swift Current , Saskatchewan
2020	canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic

Medal table

rank	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Canada Ontario	8th	2	3	13
2	Russia Soviet Union	6th	3	3	12
3	United States	5	8th	2	15th
4th	Canada Québec	3	2	5	10
5	Sweden	2	2	4th	8th
6th	Canada West	2	0	1	3
7th	Finland	1	2	1	4th
8th	Canada White	1	0	0	1
9	Canada Pacific	0	6th	4th	10
10	Czech Republic Czechoslovakia	0	1	4th	5
11	Canada Black	0	1	0	1
	Canada Red	0	1	0	1
13	Canada Atlantic	0	0	1	1

Web links

• World U-17 Hockey Challenge hosted by the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation