The 1997 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were held in Geneva and Morges, Switzerland. The tournament was won by Canada, who won their record fifth-straight gold medal with a 2–0 victory over the United States in the gold-medal match. Mike York of the United States was the top scorer in the tournament, with five goals and five assists for ten points.

The tournament all-star team selected upon the conclusion of the tournament included forwards Mike York (United States), Sergei Samsonov (Russia) and Christian Dube (Canada); defencemen Mark Streit (Switzerland) and Chris Phillips (Canada); and goaltender Brian Boucher (United States).

Notable future National Hockey League (NHL) stars that played in this year's tournament included Joe Thornton (Canada), Daniel Brière (Canada) and Marián Hossa (Slovakia).

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	4	3	0	1	18	5	+13	7
Canada	4	2	0	2	15	9	+6	6
Czech Republic	4	1	1	2	13	8	+5	4
Switzerland	4	1	2	1	8	11	−3	3
Germany	4	0	4	0	5	26	−21	0

December 26, 1996

United States

4 – 0

Switzerland

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 26, 1996

Czech Republic

8 – 2

Germany

Morges

December 27, 1996

Canada

4 – 1 (1-1, 1-0, 2-0)

Germany

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 850

	Marc Denis	Goalies	Kai Fischer	Referee: Peter Andersson Linesmen: Hans Baker Stefan Danielsson
	0-1 3:18 - Fendt (Kreutzer) (PP) Isbister (Whitfield) (PP) - 17:23 1-1 Mann - 32:21 2-1 Jackman (Dubé) - 43:50 3-1 Thornton (Briere, Mann) (PP) - 51:26 4-1
	34	Shots	22

December 27, 1996

Czech Republic

1 – 1

Switzerland

Morges

December 28, 1996

Canada

4 – 4 (2-2, 1-0, 1-2)

United States

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 2,769

	Marc Denis	Goalies	Brian Boucher	Referee: Pekka Haajanen Linesmen: Stefan Danielsson Pavel Halas
	Dubé (Doig) 1:18 1-0 1-1 1:48 - Parrish (Young) 1-2 4:43 - Farkas (Smith) Dubé (PP) - 8:52 2-2 Brière (Isbister) - 26:24 3-2 3-3 40:28 - LaCouture (Boulerice) 3-4 55:46 - Young (Poti) Schaefer (Mann) - 56:54 4-4
	32	Shots	26

December 29, 1996

Switzerland

6 – 2

Germany

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 29, 1996

United States

2 – 1

Czech Republic

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 30, 1996

Canada

4 – 1 (0-1, 2-0, 2-0)

Switzerland

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 3,353

	Marc Denis	Goalies	David Aebischer	Referee: Frantisek Rejhar Linesmen: Stefan Danielsson Milan Misek
	0-1 16:35 - Riesen Isbister (Brière) 21:32 1-1 Dubé (Isbister) (PP) - 31:32 2-1 Thornton (McCauley, Briere) - 43:34 3-1 Mann (Doig) - 55:30 4-1
	35	Shots	21

December 31, 1996

Canada

3 – 3 (1-1, 1-1, 1-1)

Czech Republic

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 515

	Marc Denis	Goalies	Adam Svoboda	Referee: Peter Andersson Linesmen: Grzegorz Dzięciołowski Pavel Helas
	Letowski (Thornton) - 9:42 1-0 1-1 10:17 - Matejovsky (Zidlicky) 1-2 26:33 - Melenovský Jackman (Mann) (PP) - 28:22 2-2 Mann (Dubé) - 55:38 3-2 3-3 59:50 - Burger (Kratena) (SH)
	29	Shots	22

December 31, 1996

United States

8 – 0

Germany

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Russia	4	3	0	1	20	5	+15	7
Finland	4	3	1	0	17	9	+8	6
Slovakia	4	2	2	0	17	13	+4	4
Sweden	4	1	2	1	10	10	0	3
Poland	4	0	4	0	6	33	−27	0

December 26, 1996

Russia

4 – 3

Slovakia

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 26, 1996

Finland

7 – 0

Poland

Morges

December 27, 1996

Slovakia

4 – 1

Sweden

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 27, 1996

Russia

12 – 0

Poland

Morges

December 28, 1996

Finland

4 – 2

Sweden

Morges

December 29, 1996

Slovakia

7 – 4

Poland

Morges

December 29, 1996

Russia

4 – 2

Finland

Morges

December 30, 1996

Sweden

7 – 2

Poland

Morges

December 31, 1996

Finland

4 – 3

Slovakia

Morges

December 31, 1996

Russia

0 – 0

Sweden

Morges

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Switzerland	3	3	0	0	18	5	+13	6
Sweden	3	2	1	0	17	10	+7	4
Germany	3	1	2	0	11	14	−3	2
Poland	3	0	3	0	3	20	−17	0

December 29, 1996

Switzerland

6 – 2

Germany

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

December 30, 1996

Sweden

7 – 2

Poland

Morges

January 2, 1997

Switzerland

6 – 1

Poland

Morges

January 2, 1997

Sweden

8 – 2

Germany

Morges

January 3, 1997

Switzerland

6 – 2

Sweden

Morges

January 3, 1997

Germany

7 – 0

Poland

Morges

 Poland was relegated for the 1998 World Junior Championships.

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

QF1

Canada

3

A2

Canada

7

B1

Russia

2

B3

Slovakia

2

SF1

Canada

2

SF2

United States

0

QF2

Czech Republic

2

B2

Finland

2

A1

United States

5

A3

Czech Republic

3

Third place

QF1

Russia

4

QF2

Czech Republic

1

January 1, 1997

Canada

7 – 2 (0-0, 3-1, 4-1)

Slovakia

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 1,101

	Marc Denis	Goalies	Stanislav Petrik	Referee: Alex Dell Linesmen: Oswald Christian Pavel Halas
	Briere (Isbister) - 25:07 1-0 Whitfield (Thornton, Mann) (PP) - 27:35 2-0 2-1 32:25 - Hossa (Vaic, Pavlikovský) (PP) Schaefer (Dubé, McCauley) (PP) - 38:49 3-1 3-2 41:15 - Rieciciar (Handzus, Somik) Isbister - 44:51 4-2 Devereaux (McCauley) - 49:42 5-2 Letowski - 51:50 6-2 Dubé (Schaefer) (PP) - 56:28 7-2
	31	Shots	39

January 1, 1997

Czech Republic

3 – 2 GWS (0–1, 1–0, 1–1, 0-0, 3-1)

Finland

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

January 3, 1997

Canada

3 – 2 (1-1, 0-1, 2-0)

Russia

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 1,976

	Marc Denis	Goalies	Radmir Faizov	Referee: Henrik Andersson Linesmen: Stefan Danielsson Pavel Halas
	0-1 11:53 - Morozov (Sidulov) (PP) Schaefer (McCauley) (PP) - 18:10 1-1 1-2 29:56 - Gabdulin (Volchkov) Devereaux (McCauley) - 40:49 2-2 Devereaux (Larsen, Phillips) - 49:44 3-2
	27	Shots	28

January 3, 1997

United States

5 – 2 (2–2, 1–0, 2–0)

Czech Republic

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva

January 3, 1997

Finland

6 – 4 (4–1, 0–1, 2–2)

Slovakia

Morges

4 January 1997

Russia

4 – 1 (2-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Czech Republic

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 855

4 January 1997

Canada

2 – 0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0)

United States

Patinoire des Vernets, Geneva Attendance: 4,269

Game reference
				Referee: Frantisek Rejhar Linesmen: Stefan Danielsson Pavel Halas
	Devereaux (Letowski) - 28:38 1-0 Isbister (Briere) - 43:09 2-0
	23	Shots	35

	Team
	Canada
	United States
	Russia
4th	Czech Republic
5th	Finland
6th	Slovakia
7th	Switzerland
8th	Sweden
9th	Germany
10th	Poland

 Poland was relegated for the 1998 World Juniors

Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts
Mike York	United States	6	5	5	10
Tomi Kallio	Finland	6	5	4	9
Erik Rasmussen	United States	6	4	5	9
Rastislav Pavlikovský	Slovakia	7	2	7	9
Alexei Morozov	Russia	6	5	3	8
Niko Kapanen	Finland	6	4	4	8
Alexei Kolkounov	Russia	6	4	4	8
Ľubomír Vaic	Slovakia	6	1	7	8
Sergei Samsonov	Russia	6	6	1	7
Marián Hossa	Slovakia	6	5	2	7
Mark Parrish	United States	6	5	2	7
Brad Isbister	Canada	6	4	3	7
Christian Dubé	Canada	6	4	3	7
Cameron Mann	Canada	6	4	3	7
Marek Melenovský	Czech Republic	6	4	3	7
Boris Lingemann	Germany	6	4	3	7
Ondrej Kratena	Czech Republic	6	3	4	7
Ville Nieminen	Finland	6	2	5	7

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Player	Country	MINS	GAA
Denis Khlopotnov	Russia	180	0.33
Brian Boucher	United States	357.13	1.51
Marc Denis	Canada	419.52	1.86
David Aebischer	Switzerland	300	2.00
Adam Svoboda	Czech Republic	428.27	2.66

	IIHF Directorate Awards	Media All-Star Team
Goaltender	Marc Denis	Brian Boucher
Defencemen	Joe Corvo	Chris Phillips Mark Streit
Forwards	Alexei Morozov	Christian Dubé Sergei Samsonov Michael York

This tournament was played in Kyiv Ukraine, from December 27 to January 5.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kazakhstan	7	6	0	1	39	15	+24	13			4–1	1–1	7–5	3–1	4–0	11–3	9–4
2	Latvia	7	5	1	1	28	19	+9	11		1–4		4–3	5–5	2–1	4–3	9–1	3–2
3	France	7	4	1	2	22	16	+6	10		1–1	3–4		5–4	4–3	1–1	3–2	5–1
4	Norway	7	2	2	3	33	23	+10	7		5–7	5–5	4–5		2–2	3–3	5–1	9–0
5	Ukraine	7	3	3	1	26	18	+8	7		1–3	1–2	3–4	2–2		4–3	8–1	7–3
6	Japan	7	2	3	2	24	17	+7	6		0–4	3–4	1–1	3–3	3–4		6–1	8–0
7	Hungary	7	1	6	0	14	44	−30	2		3–11	1–9	2–3	1–5	1–8	1–6		5–2
8	Italy	7	0	7	0	12	46	−34	0		4–9	2–3	1–5	0–9	3–7	0–8	2–5

 Kazakhstan was promoted to Pool A, and  Italy was relegated to Pool C, for 1998.

Played in Gheorgheni and Miercurea Ciuc, Romania from December 30 to January 3.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Belarus	3	3	0	0	26	2	+24	6			7–2	8–0	11–0
Great Britain	3	2	1	0	13	9	+4	4		2–7		4–2	7–0
Austria	3	1	2	0	6	12	−6	2		0–8	2–4		4–0
Croatia	3	0	3	0	0	22	−22	0		0–11	0–7	0–4

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Slovenia	3	3	0	0	22	6	+16	6			6–2	6–2	10–2
Denmark	3	2	1	0	27	8	+19	4		2–6		9–0	16–2
Romania	3	1	2	0	8	18	−10	2		2–6	0–9		6–3
Netherlands	3	0	3	0	7	32	−25	0		2–10	2–16	3–6

• 7th place: Croatia 5 - 3  Netherlands
• 5th place: Austria 3 - 1  Romania
• 3rd place: Denmark 5 - 4  Great Britain
• 1st Place: Belarus 8 - 2  Slovenia

 Belarus was promoted to Pool B, and  Netherlands was relegated to Pool D for 1998.

Played in Sofia Bulgaria from December 30 to January 3.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Lithuania	3	3	0	0	45	4	+41	6			10–1	15–1	20–2
Spain	3	2	1	0	17	12	+5	4		1–10		3–1	13–1
Bulgaria	3	1	2	0	9	20	−11	2		1–15	1–3		7–2
Mexico	3	0	3	0	5	40	−35	0		2–20	1–13	2–7

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Estonia	3	3	0	0	38	7	+31	6			8–3	12–3	18–1
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	22	12	+10	4		3–8		9–4	10–0
Israel	3	1	2	0	13	23	−10	2		3–12	4–9		6–2
South Africa	3	0	3	0	3	34	−31	0		1–18	0–10	2–6

• 7th place: South Africa 5 - 3  Mexico
• 5th place: Israel 7 - 3  Bulgaria
• 3rd place: Yugoslavia 4 - 1  Spain
• 1st Place: Estonia 8 - 4  Lithuania

 Estonia was promoted to Pool C for 1998.

• 1997 World Junior Hockey Championships at TSN.ca
• Complete details in French at Passionhockey.com
• Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press.