The Puck Stops Here

Canada won the World Junior Hockey Championships Gold Medal for the fourth year in a row with a 3/2 overtime victory over Sweden. Canada was led by Steve Mason (Columbubs draft pick) in goal and Kyle Turris (Phoenix draft pick) offensively. The silver medal Swedish team was led by Robin Figren (NY Islanders draft pick), Mikael Berglund (Calgary draft pick) and Patrik Backstrom (St Louis draft pick).

Russia defeated USA in the bronze/fourth game with a 4-2 score. Nikita Filatov (2008 draft eligible) and Viktor Tikhinov (undrafted) led the Russians offensively. USA was led by tournament top scorer James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia draft pick) and Jordan Schroeder (2009 draft eligible).

The host Czech Republic finished fifth behind the strong goaltending of Michael Neuvirth (Washington draft pick), but lacked any big offensive players.

Finland finished sixth. They were led by Niclas Lucenius (Atlanta draft pick) and Jan-Mikael Juutilainen (Chicago draft pick).

Slovakia finished seventh. Marek Slovak (undrafted) and David Skokan (NY Ranger draft pick) led the way.

Kazakhstan finished eighth. Yevgeni Rymarev (undrafted) was their offensive leader.

Relegated were nineth and tenth place finishers, Switzerland and Denmark. Switzerland's best player was Arnaud Jacquemet (undrafted). Denmark was led by Lars Eller (St Louis draft pick) and Mikkel Boedker (2008 draft eligible).