2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship

The 2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championships was the eighth World Women's U18 Championship. The top division tournament was played in Buffalo, United States, from 5 to 12 January 2015. Twenty nations played in three levels, with promotion and relegation for the top and bottom teams at each level.

2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	5 – 12 January 2015
Teams	8
Venue(s)	HarborCenter (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	United States (4th title)
Runner-up	Canada
Third place	Russia
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played	21
Goals scored	101 (4.81 per game)
Attendance	13,788 (657 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Sarah Potomak (9 points)
MVP	Sarah Potomak
← 2014 2016 →

The United States won their fourth title defeating Canada in overtime in the gold medal game, with Jincy Dunne scoring on the power play. This was the eighth consecutive final between the two nations, evening their all-time records. The bronze medal game was also a rematch from the previous year, this time the Russians defeated the Czechs earning their first ever medal at this level.

In Division I play the French earned their first ever promotion to the top level. They opened the tournament with a shootout win over Norway and won the rest of their games earning a trip to St. Catherines for 2016.^[1]

Format

The preliminary round is divided into two pools that placed the top four seeds into Group A, and the bottom four in Group B. The top two finishers in Group A advances directly to the semifinals, while the two remaining teams and the top two in Group B will play a quarterfinal round. The bottom two teams from Group B will play a relegation series to determine the one team that gets relegated.^[2]

 

HarborCenter the venue for the tournament

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC–5).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	3	2	1	0	0	12	2	+10	8	Advance to semifinals
2	Canada	3	2	0	1	0	11	5	+6	7
3	Russia	3	1	0	0	2	6	11	−5	3	Advance to quarterfinals
4	Czech Republic	3	0	0	0	3	2	13	−11	0

Source: IIHF
(H) Host

5 January 2015 15:30

Russia

3–1 (2–0, 1–0, 0–1)

Czech Republic

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

5 January 2015 19:00

Canada

1–2 GWS (0–1, 0–0, 1–0) (OT 0–0) (SO: 0–2)

United States

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

6 January 2015 15:30

Canada

3–2 (2–0, 1–1, 0–1)

Russia

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

6 January 2015 19:00

United States

3–0 (1–0, 0–0, 2–0)

Czech Republic

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

8 January 2015 15:30

Czech Republic

1–7 (1–1, 0–4, 0–2)

Canada

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

8 January 2015 19:00

United States

7–1 (2–0, 3–1, 2–0)

Russia

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	3	2	0	0	1	8	5	+3	6	Advance to quarterfinals
2	Finland	3	2	0	0	1	7	5	+2	6
3	Switzerland	3	2	0	0	1	5	5	0	6	Advance to relegation round
4	Japan	3	0	0	0	3	5	10	−5	0

Source: IIHF

5 January 2015 12:00

Sweden

3–2 (1–0, 0–1, 2–1)

Japan

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

5 January 2015 16:00

Finland

0–2 (0–0, 0–2, 0–0)

Switzerland

HarborCenter Rink 2

Game reference

6 January 2015 12:00

Sweden

4–0 (3–0, 0–0, 1–0)

Switzerland

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

6 January 2015 16:00

Japan

2–4 (2–0, 0–2, 0–2)

Finland

HarborCenter Rink 2

Game reference

8 January 2015 12:00

Japan

1–3 (0–0, 0–1, 1–2)

Switzerland

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

8 January 2015 16:00

Finland

3–1 (0–1, 3–0, 0–0)

Sweden

HarborCenter Rink 2

Game reference

Relegation series

The third and fourth placed team from Group B will play a best-of-three series to determine the relegated team.

9 January 2015 12:00

Switzerland

2–1 (1–1, 1–0, 0–0)

Japan

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

11 January 2015 12:00

Japan

2–3 GWS (0–1, 2–1, 0–0) (OT 0–0) (SO: 0–1)

Switzerland

HarborCenter Rink 2

Game reference

Final round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

A1

United States

5

A4

Czech Republic

4

A4

Czech Republic

0

B1

Sweden

3

A1

United States

3^OT

A2

Canada

2

A2

Canada

3

A3

Russia

4

A3

Russia

1

B2

Finland

3

Third place

A4

Czech Republic

1

A3

Russia

5

Quarterfinals

9 January 2015 15:30

Russia

4–3 (0–3, 1–0, 3–0)

Finland

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

9 January 2015 19:00

Czech Republic

4–3 (1–0, 2–1, 1–2)

Sweden

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

Semifinals

11 January 2015 15:00

Canada

3–1 (1–1, 1–0, 1–0)

Russia

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

11 January 2015 19:00

United States

5–0 (2–0, 2–0, 1–0)

Czech Republic

HarborCenter Rink 1

Game reference

Fifth place game

11 January 2015 15:30

Sweden

0–3 (0–2, 0–0, 0–1)

Finland

HarborCenter Rink 2

Game reference

Bronze medal game

12 January 2015 15:00

Russia

5–1 (1–0, 2–1, 2–0)

Czech Republic

HarborCenter Rink 1 Attendance: 515

Game reference
	Valeria Tarakanova	Goalies	Blanka Škodová	Referee:   Jerilyn Glenn Linesmen:   Jacqueline Spresser   Vanessa Stratton
	Shtaryova (Shokhina, Kadirova) – 00:40 1–0 Kadirova (Shtaryova, Shokhina) – 22:27 2–0 2–1 22:50 – Bukolská (Neubauerová) Likhachyova (Falyakhova) – 30:18 3–1 Korotkikh – 41:52 4–1 Shokhina (Pirogova) – 50:18 5–1
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	34	Shots	24

Gold medal game

12 January 2015 19:00

United States

3–2 OT (1–1, 1–1, 0–0) (OT: 1–0)

Canada

HarborCenter Rink 1 Attendance: 1,800

Game reference
	Kaitlin Burt	Goalies	Marlène Boissonnault	Referee:   Ramona Weiss Linesmen:   Nataša Pagon   Johanna Tauriainen
	0–1 03:14 – Labbe (Giguère, McGill) Dunne – 19:27 1–1 Gorecki (Norby, Woken) – 25:00 2–1 2–2 28:23 – Cogan (Agnew, Gebhard) Dunne (Gilmore) (PP) – 60:51 3–2
	6 min	Penalties	16 min
	41	Shots	18

Final standings

	United States
	Canada
	Russia
4	Czech Republic
5	Finland
6	Sweden
7	Switzerland
8	Japan

2015 IIHF Women's U-18 World champions
United States Fourth title

Relegated to the 2016 Division I

Tournament awards

Best players selected by the directorate

Best Goalkeeper	Valeria Tarakanova
Best Defenseman	Jincy Dunne
Best Forward	Sarah Potomak

Source: IIHF.com

Media All Stars

Goalkeeper	Valeria Tarakanova
Defenceman	Jincy Dunne
Defenceman	Micah Hart
Forward	Fanuza Kadirova
Forward	Sarah Potomak
Forward	Melissa Samoskevich
Most Valuable Player	Sarah Potomak

Source: IIHF.com

Statistics

Scoring leaders

Pos	Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
1	Sarah Potomak	Canada	5	5	4	9	+8	4
2	Rebecca Gilmore	United States	5	2	7	9	+4	6
3	Melissa Samoskevich	United States	5	6	2	8	+6	6
4	Fanuza Kadirova	Russia	6	5	3	8	+5	0
5	Jincy Dunne	United States	5	3	5	8	+4	0
6	Élizabeth Giguère	Canada	5	3	4	7	+7	6
6	Anna Shokhina	Russia	5	3	4	7	+7	0
8	Anniina Kaitala	Finland	5	2	4	6	+3	0
9	Sanni Hakala	Finland	5	5	0	5	+1	4
9	Alina Müller	Switzerland	5	5	0	5	–	4

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Pos	Player	Country	TOI	GA	GAA	Sv%	SO
1	Andrea Brändli	Switzerland	310:00	8	1.55	94.94	1
2	Anni Keisala	Finland	240:00	5	1.25	94.74	1
3	Kaitlin Burt	United States	225:51	4	1.06	92.31	0
4	Marlène Boissonnault	Canada	245:51	7	1.71	91.95	0
5	Valeria Tarakanova	Russia	328:02	15	2.74	91.85	0

TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

Division I

Main article: 2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship – Division I

Division I 'A'

The Division I 'A' tournament was played in Vaujany, France, from 4 to 10 January 2015.^[3]

Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
France	5	4	1	0	0	21	9	+12	14	Promoted to the 2016 Top Division
Norway	5	3	1	1	0	14	9	+5	12
Slovakia	5	2	0	1	2	18	24	−6	7
Germany	5	2	0	0	3	20	15	+5	6
Hungary	5	2	0	0	3	10	13	−3	6
Austria	5	0	0	0	5	6	19	−13	0	Relegated to the 2016 Division I Qualification

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Division I Qualification

The Division I Qualification tournament was played in Katowice, Poland, from 19 to 25 January 2015.^[4] Denmark won all five games in their debut, earning promotion to the Division I 'A' tournament for 2016.

Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
Denmark	5	5	0	0	0	29	2	+27	15	Promoted to the 2016 Division I
Italy	5	4	0	0	1	11	8	+3	12
Poland	5	3	0	0	2	21	12	+9	9
Kazakhstan	5	1	1	0	3	6	14	−8	5
China	5	1	0	1	3	3	19	−16	4
Great Britain	5	0	0	0	5	3	18	−15	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

References

1. French fly to Canada
2. detailed format and tie-breaking procedure
3. Division I statistics
4. Division I Qual. statistics

External links

• Official website
• AllSportDB.com Event page
• 2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship at Eurohockey.com