World U-17 Hockey Challenge

Template:Short description The World U-17 Hockey Challenge, originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, is an international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada. Prior to 2011,Template:Efn-num the tournament did not operate during years in which the Canada Winter Games were held. As such, the World Under-17 Challenge was held three out of every four years. It is organized by Hockey Canada and is the first major international competition for male hockey players under the age of 17. The tournament is the first step in Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence and is used to identify players moving on to the U18 and National Junior Team.

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

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Host city (cities)
1986	Quebec		Pacific	Template:Flagicon Quebec City
1988			Quebec	Template:Flagicon Quebec City
1990		Quebec		Template:Flagicon Quebec City
1991	The ice hockey tournament at the 1991 Canada Games was held in place of a 1991 tournament.
1992	Ontario	Quebec		Template:Flagicon Sudbury
1994	Quebec		Pacific	Template:Flagicon Amos
1995	Ontario		Quebec	Template:Flagicon Moncton
1997	Ontario		Quebec	Template:Flagicon Red Deer
1998 ITemplate:Efn-num	Ontario		Quebec	Template:Flagicon Kitchener
1998 IITemplate:Efn-num	West			Template:Flagicon Swift Current
1999	The ice hockey tournament at the 1999 Canada Games was held in place of a 1999 tournament.
2000		Ontario	Pacific	Template:Flagicon Timmins / Chapleau / Cochrane / Haileybury / Hearst / Kapuskasing / Kirkland Lake / New Liskeard / Smooth Rock Falls / Rouyn-Noranda
2001		Pacific	Ontario	Template:Flagicon New Glasgow / Truro
2002		Pacific	Ontario	Template:Flagicon Selkirk / Stonewall
2003	The ice hockey tournament at the 2003 Canada Games was held in place of a 2003 tournament.
2004	Ontario	Pacific	Quebec	Template:Flagicon St. John's
2005	West	Pacific	Atlantic	Template:Flagicon Lethbridge
2006	Quebec			Template:Flagicon Balgonie / Fort Qu'Appelle / Indian Head / Milestone / Moose Jaw / Regina / Southey / Weyburn
2007	The ice hockey tournament at the 2007 Canada Winter Games was held in place of a 2007 tournament.
2008	Ontario		West	Template:Flagicon London / Lucan / St. Thomas / Stratford / Strathroy / Woodstock
2009	Ontario	Pacific		Template:Flagicon Campbell River / Courtenay / Duncan / Nanaimo / Parksville / Port Alberni
2010		Ontario		Template:Flagicon Timmins / Iroquois Falls / Cochrane / Kapuskasing / Kirkland Lake / New Liskeard
2011Template:Efn-num	Ontario		Pacific	Template:Flagicon Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie
2012			Ontario	Template:Flagicon Windsor
2013				Template:Flagicon Drummondville and Victoriaville
2014 (Jan.)		Pacific		Template:Flagicon (Sydney/North Sydney/Port Hawkesbury)
2014 (Nov.)				Template:Flagicon Sarnia and Lambton Shores
2015	White			Template:Flagicon Dawson Creek and Fort St. John
2016		Black		Template:Flagicon Sault Ste. Marie
2017		Red		Template:Flagicon Dawson Creek and Fort St. John
2018				Template:Flagicon Saint John and Quispamsis
2019				Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Medicine Hat and Swift Current
2020	Tournament cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic.			Template:Flagicon Charlottetown and Summerside
2021	Tournament cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic.			Template:Flagicon Charlottetown and Summerside
2022		Red		Template:Flagicon Langley and Delta
2023	White			Template:Flagicon Charlottetown and Summerside
2024	White	Red		Template:Flagicon Sarnia
2025				Template:Flagicon Truro

Medal table

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Medals
Template:Ihu Ontario	8	2	3	13
Template:Ihu	6	9	2	17
Template:Ihu Template:Ihu
Template:Ihu Quebec	3	2	5	10
Template:Ihu White	3	0	0	3
Template:Ihu	2	2	6	10
Template:Ihu West	2	0	1	3
Template:Ihu	1	2	2	5
Template:Ihu Pacific	0	6	4	10
Template:Ihu Red	0	3	0	3
Template:Ihu Template:Ihu
Template:Ihu Black	0	1	0	1
Template:Ihu Atlantic	0	0	1	1

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

See also

• World Junior A Challenge
• IIHF World U20 Championship
• IIHF World U18 Championship

External links

• World U-17 Hockey Challenge