World U-17 Hockey Challenge

Origins

The inaugural World Under-17 Hockey Challenge took place in Quebec as the 1986 Quebec Esso Cup. At the time, it was considered the unofficial world championship of midget hockey. It was also used as a development tool for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to identify players for further development as well as expose them to their first taste of international competition. The tournament was among ten teams, five regional teams from Canada, Finland, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Sweden, and the Soviet Union. Team Quebec, led by future NHL first overall pick Pierre Turgeon captured gold by defeating the Soviets, who featured the likes of Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny.

Prior to November 2014, the tournament was held from late December through to early January. Originally, Canada would field five teams, selected on a regional basis.

Current tournament

The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge has continued to grow over the years to the point where it is perhaps the largest annual event administered under Hockey Canada's own auspices. Although the tournament is not sanctioned by the IIHF, it attracts U17 teams from the United States, Sweden, and Russia on an annual basis and Czech Republic, Finland, and Slovakia on a semi-annual basis.

The tournament is currently held in November of each year.

Participating teams

Canada enters three teams each year. Prior to November 2014, Canada entered five regional teams

Other participating nations have included:

• (now defunct)
• (now defunct)

Results

Medal table

Medals by Nations (1986–2024)

Notable participants

In bold, players selected first overall in the NHL entry draft

• Pierre Turgeon, Team Quebec, 1986
• Sergei Fedorov, Team USSR, 1986
• Alexander Mogilny, Team USSR, 1986
• Joe Sakic, Team Pacific, 1986
• Jeremy Roenick, Team USA, 1986
• Pavel Bure, Team Soviet Union, 1988
• Mats Sundin, Team Sweden, 1988
• Jere Lehtinen, Team Finland, 1990
• Sami Kapanen, Team Finland, 1990
• Martin Lapointe, Team Quebec, 1990
• Nikolai Khabibulin, Team USSR, 1990
• Chris Gratton, Team Ontario, 1992
• Ethan Moreau, Team Ontario, 1992
• Todd Harvey, Team Ontario, 1992
• Jamie Storr, Team Ontario, 1992
• Alexandre Daigle, Team Quebec, 1992
• Éric Dazé, Team Quebec, 1992
• Jocelyn Thibault, Team Quebec, 1992
• Radek Bonk, Team Czechoslovakia, 1992
• Viktor Kozlov, Team USSR, 1992
• Adam Deadmarsh, Team Pacific, 1992
• Darcy Tucker, Team Pacific, 1992
• Niklas Sundström, Team Sweden, 1992
• Daniel Brière, Team Quebec, 1994
• Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Team Quebec, 1994
• Jarome Iginla, Team Pacific, 1994
• Brad Larsen, Team Pacific, 1994
• Bryan Berard, Team USA, 1994
• Joe Thornton, Team Ontario, 1995
• Roberto Luongo, Team Quebec, 1995
• Patrick Marleau, Team West, 1995
• Brian Gionta, Team USA, 1995
• Scott Gomez, Team USA, 1995
• Martin Hyun, Team Germany, 1995
• Sascha Goc, Team Germany, 1995
• Mika Noronen, Team Finland, 1995
• Vincent Lecavalier, Team Quebec, 1996
• David Legwand, Team USA, 1996
• Duncan Keith, Team Pacific, 2000
• Ilya Kovalchuk, Team Russia, 2000
• Joni Pitkänen, Team Finland, 2000
• Ryan Kesler, Team USA, 2001
• Alexander Ovechkin, Team Russia, 2002
• Jack Johnson, Team USA, 2004
• Phil Kessel, Team USA, 2004
• Jonathan Toews, Team West, 2005
• Erik Johnson, Team USA, 2005
• Patrick Kane, Team USA, 2005
• Taylor Hall, Team Ontario, 2008
• Aaron Ekblad, Team Ontario, 2012
• Bo Horvat, Team Ontario, 2012
• Auston Matthews, Team USA, 2014
• Mitch Marner, Team Ontario, 2014
• Matthew Tkachuk, Team USA, 2014
• Andrei Svechnikov, Team Russia, 2015
• Brady Tkachuk, Team USA, 2015
• Jack Hughes, Team USA, 2017

Notes

References

References

1. "Hockey Canada statement on 2020 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, presented by TELUS".