{"id":600012796,"date":"2023-12-27T02:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/sports\/2023\/12\/27\/remembering-the-1999-world-juniors"},"modified":"2023-12-27T02:00:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T08:00:24","slug":"remembering-the-1999-world-juniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/sports\/2023\/12\/27\/remembering-the-1999-world-juniors","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the 1999 World Juniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The holiday season is when the World Junior hockey championship annually moves to the top of the sports news in Canada. Manitoba was the host province for the 1999 International Ice Hockey Federation Championship held from Dec. 26, 1998 to Jan. 5, 1999. A record total of more than 174,000 fans attended 31 games played at the Winnipeg Arena and in Brandon, Morden, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk and Teulon.<\/p>\n

The teams were divided into two groups of five and played a round-robin within their groups. Team Canada, with no Manitoba players on the roster, was in group A, with the Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia and the U.S.A. Group B consisted of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. Three teams from each group would make the playoffs with the group leaders qualifying for the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

In Group A, Slovakia finished in first place with a 3-0-1 record with the only blemish a 0-0 tie with Canada. Jon Lasak<\/strong> for Slovakia and Robert Luongo<\/strong> of Canada were the goalies in the game played at the Keystone Centre in Brandon. After losing to the U.S. 5-2 on New Year’s Eve at the Arena, Canada finished second at 2-1-1. Sweden topped Group B with a 4-0 record.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Winnipeg\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Winnipeg Free Press archives<\/p>\n

Manitoba hosted the World Junior hockey championship tournament in 1998-99, with the final played at the old Winnipeg Arena on Jan. 5, 1999. Canada lost, heartbreakingly, in overtime.<\/p><\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n

The quarter-final matches could be described as revenge time. Russia beat defending champion Finland 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Denis Arkhipov<\/strong>, while Canada clobbered Kazakhstan 12-2 with Simon Gagne<\/strong> scoring four times. At the previous year’s tournament in Finland, the Finnish squad had beaten Russia in the final and Kazakhstan outscored Canada 6-3 in the seventh-place game. (Interestingly, the attendance for that game in Hameenlinna was just 169 spectators.)<\/p>\n

In the 1999 semi-finals on Jan. 4 at the Arena, Canada had little trouble with Sweden winning 6-1 while Russia edged Slovakia 3-2. In the bronze medal game played the following day in front of 7,128 fans at the Arena, Slovakia won its first medal with a 5-4 victory over Sweden. An overflow crowd of more than 13,000 on Jan. 5 saw the final between Canada and Russia go into overtime. Artem Chubarov<\/strong>’s second goal of the game won it for Russia when he beat Luongo at the 5:13 mark.<\/p>\n

The Canadian netminder played an outstanding game as the Russians had 40 shots compared to Canada’s 18. Maxim Balmochnykh<\/strong> had the other Russian goal while Gagne and defenseman Bryan Allen<\/strong> scored for the losers. Allen’s tally late in the third period led to overtime.<\/p>\n

In looking at the scoring leaders for the tournament, some future NHLers showed their talent. American Brian Gionta<\/strong>, who played 16 seasons in the NHL and captained both the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres, led with 11 points, and his teammate, 18-year NHLer Scott Gomez<\/strong>, added 10. Future Vancouver Canucks greats Daniel Sedin<\/strong>, with 10, and twin brother Henrik<\/strong>, with nine, topped the scoring for Sweden.<\/p>\n

Gagne, who played 14 seasons in the NHL, primarily with Philadelphia, led the goal scorers with seven plus an assist while Daniel Tkaczuk<\/strong> had six goals and four helpers for Canada. He played briefly in the NHL for the Calgary Flames, but had a long pro career in North America and Europe. Niklas Hagman<\/strong>, who played in the NHL from 2001-02 until 2011-12, was the best Finnish player with eight points. The Russian victory was clearly a team effort, as no Russian player made the Top 10 in tournament scoring.<\/p>\n

Russia’s Maxim Afinogenov<\/strong> was named top forward by the IIHF Directorate while his teammate, Vitaly Vishnevskiy<\/strong>, was the top defenceman. Luongo was named best goalie. The all-star team, chosen by the media, consisted of Luongo, Vishnevskiy and Canada’s Brian Campbell<\/strong> on defense, and forwards Gionta, Tkaczuk and Balmochnykh. Campbell played in the NHL from 1999-00 until 2016-17.<\/p>\n

Luongo played in the NHL from 1999-00 until 2018-19 with the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks and for Canada in three Olympic Games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. On Dec. 14, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, he was enshrined in the Canucks’ Ring of Honour before a game against the Panthers.<\/p>

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