1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

1998 IIHF World U20 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Finland
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	December 25, 1997 – January 3, 1998
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	Finland (2nd title)
Runner-up	Russia
Third place	Switzerland
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played	34
Goals scored	219 (6.44 per game)
Attendance	139,680 (4,108 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Jeff Farkas (10 points)
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The 1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1998 WJHC) were held in Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, Finland. The championships began on December 25, 1997, and finished on January 3, 1998. Home team Finland was the winner, defeating Russia 2–1 in the gold medal game, thanks to the goaltending of Mika Noronen and the overtime heroics of Niklas Hagman. Switzerland defeated the Czech Republic 4–3 to capture the bronze medal, their first and only medal in the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship.

Canada had its five-year title streak broken with its worst placing to date (8th). Canada would miss out on gold seven years in a row before beginning their 2005–2009 streak of five straight championships. It was the only tournament from 1993 to 2012 in which Canada failed to medal.

This tournament attracted 139,680 fans to 34 games for an average of 4,108 per game. This set a record for the highest-attended World Junior tournament in Europe until the 2016 tournament, which was also held in Finland, attracted 215,225 spectators.^[1]

The playoff round was expanded to eight teams, with group leaders not getting a bye to the semifinals.