2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2019 WJC) was the 43rd edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It began on December 26, 2018, and ended with the gold medal game being played on January 5, 2019. This marked the 15th time that Canada hosted the WJC.

On December 1, 2016, it was announced that Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia had won the bid to host the 2019 World Juniors. This is the second time that Vancouver has been the primary host of the tournament and the first time that Victoria has hosted in any capacity.

Match officials
The following officials were assigned by the International Ice Hockey Federation to officiate the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Referees
 * 🇨🇦 Jonathan Alarie
 * 🇺🇸 Kenneth Anderson
 * Andris Ansons
 * 🇸🇪 Tobias Björk
 * 🇺🇸 Andrew Bruggeman
 * 🇫🇮 Lassi Heikkinen
 * 🇨🇦 Jeff Ingram
 * 🇨🇿 Daniel Pražák
 * 🇷🇺 Yevgeni Romasko
 * 🇧🇾 Maxim Sidorenko
 * 🇸🇪 Mikael Sjöqvist
 * 🇸🇰 Peter Stano

Linesmen
 * 🇨🇦 Maxime Chaput
 * 🇧🇾 Dmitri Golyak
 * 🇨🇦 Michael Harrington
 * 🇨🇿 Daniel Hynek
 * Balazs Kovacs
 * 🇫🇮 Lauri Nikulainen
 * 🇺🇸 Brian Oliver
 * 🇸🇰 Peter Šefčík
 * 🇷🇺 Dmitri Shishlo
 * 🇸🇪 Emil Yletyinen

Seeding
The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2018 tournament's final standings using the serpentine system. On 6 Jan 2018, the IIHF announced the groups. With Kazakhstan being promoted from Division I A after winning the 2018 Division I A Tournament.


 * Group A (Vancouver)
 * (1)
 * (4)
 * (5)
 * (8)
 * (9)


 * Group B (Victoria)
 * (2)
 * (3)
 * (6)
 * (7)
 * (11-Promoted)

Format
The preliminary round is a two group of five teams each internal round-robin format, followed by a three-round playoff. In the round-robin, three points are allotted for a regulation win, and two points for an overtime or shootout win. One point is allotted for an overtime or shootout loss.

The four highest-ranked teams from each group of the preliminary round advance to the quarterfinals while the last-place team from each group will play a best-of-three series, the loser relegated to Division IA for 2020, being replaced by the winner of Division IA. All other teams will retain their Top Division status for the 2020 edition.

Preliminary round
''All times are local. (Pacific Standard Time – UTC-8)''

Relegation round
Note: was relegated to the 2020 Division I A

Scoring leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: IIHF

Goaltending leaders
(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF

Awards
Source: IIHF
 * Best players selected by the directorate:
 * Best Goaltender: 🇷🇺 Pyotr Kochetkov
 * Best Defenceman: 🇷🇺 Alexander Romanov
 * Best Forward: 🇺🇸 Ryan Poehling

Source: IIHF
 * Media All-Stars:
 * MVP: 🇺🇸 Ryan Poehling
 * Goaltender: 🇫🇮 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
 * Defencemen: 🇷🇺 Alexander Romanov / 🇸🇪 Erik Brännström
 * Forwards: 🇷🇺 Grigori Denisenko / Philipp Kurashev / 🇺🇸 Ryan Poehling

Group A
The Division I Group A tournament was played in Füssen, Germany, from December 9 to 15, 2018.

Group B
The Division I Group B tournament was played in Tychy, Poland, from December 8 to 14, 2018.

Group A
The Division II Group A tournament was played in Tallinn, Estonia, from January 13 to 19, 2019.

Group B
The Division II Group B tournament was played in Zagreb, Croatia, from January 15 to 21, 2019.

Division III
The Division III tournament was played in Reykjavík, Iceland, from January 14 to 20, 2019.