Russia men's national junior ice hockey team

Medal record
	IIHF World U20 Championship

Russia
Association	Ice Hockey Federation of Russia
Most points	Evgeny Kuznetsov (26); Nikita Filatov (26)
IIHF code	RUS
First international
	Russia 16–0 Japan ; (Falun, Sweden; 26 December 1992)
Biggest win
	Russia 16–0 Japan ; (Falun, Sweden; 26 December 1992)
Biggest defeat
	Canada 9–1 Russia ; (Gävle, Sweden; 27 December 1992)
IIHF World U20 Championship
Appearances	29 (first in 1993)
Best result	(1999, 2002, 2003, 2011)

main

The Russian men's national under 20 ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team in Russia. The team represents Russia at the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Junior Hockey Championship, held annually every December and January. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation suspended Russia from all levels of competition.^[1]

History of Team Russia

Russia competed as a nation at the 1993 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Gävle, Sweden. Russia won their first medal, a bronze at the 1994 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Russia would earn silver in 1995, bronze in 1996 and 1997, and silver in 1998 after a devastating 2–1 overtime loss to Finland. Russia won their first gold medal in 1999, after defeating Canada 3–2 in overtime when Artem Chubarov scored the goal when the puck was shot past Canada goalie Roberto Luongo. Russia developed a rivalry with Kazakhstan up until the 2000 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Umeå, Sweden where Russia racked up a 14–1 win on Christmas Day. Russian improved their record against the Kazakhs 3–0. Russia also developed rivalries with Ukraine and Belarus.

Russia's biggest rivalry was against the Czech Republic where both teams met for the first time in a medal game since 1997. The game went to a shootout in 2000, where the game was scoreless through regulation and overtime. Goaltenders Zdenek Smid of the Czech Republic and Ilya Brysgalov of Russia earn player-of-the-game honors. Russia's Evgeny Muratov opened the scoring for Russia, but Milan Kraft and Libor Pivko would score to put Russia out of reach. Russia head coach Pavel Vorobiev spotted the weakness in Brysgalov, and was replaced by Alexei Volkov, who went on to stop Zbenek Irgl, who had a chance to win it for the Czechs. Russia's Evgeny Federov (no relation to Sergei Federov), had the chance to keep Russia alive, but was stopped by Smid as the Czech Republic won their first-ever gold at the WJC. Russia's players stunned in disbelief sat on the bench watching the Czechs celebrating.

Russia hosted the World Junior U20 Hockey Championships in Moscow. Both venues included Soviet Wings Arena and the Lizhiniki Sports Arena. Young stars like Ilya Kovalchuk shined for Russia. Russia tied the Swiss (3–3), defeated Belarus (10–0), defeated Canada (3–1), and lost to Finland (3–1). Ilya Kovalchuk was injured during Russia's quarterfinal game against Sweden in which Russia lost 4–3. The loss resulted in head coach Pavel Vorobiev showing his frustration towards his team, who of whom ran a tightly-disciplined team. Switzerland and Russia engaged in a linebrawl in a placement game the same year, in which resulted in suspensions.

Russia went on to win their second gold medal against Canada in 2002, as Russia stormed back from 2–0 and 3–1 deficits. Russia's Anton Volchenkov scored the winning goal past Canada's Pascal Leclaire with less than 5 minutes remaining, and resulted in a 5–4 victory. Russia won their third gold medal at the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Halifax with a 3–2 win over Canada. It was the first U20 tournament for Alexander Ovechkin. Russia lost the quarter-final game in 2004, when Finland scored the winning goal with 13 seconds left in regulation, when a Finland player shot the puck on Russia's goaltender than found its way past him.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the tournament in North Dakota had the best players, who were due to make their NHL debuts made available. Alex Ovechkin, who was due to make his debut with the Washington Capitals was playing in his third World Juniors. Canada and Russia met up in the gold medal game, which resulted in a 6–1 win for Canada. A year later, Russia would lose gold to Canada (5–0), and again in 2007 (4–2). Russia would win bronze over the United States (4–2).

Russia's Alexei Cherepanov was due to represent Russia at the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Canada. Cherepanov died on 13 October 2008 at the age of 19 during a KHL game when he collapsed on the bench after a line change. The hockey world and Russia mourned his death. Russia was ousted by Canada in the semi-finals, in which were seconds away from appearing in the gold medal game, until Jordan Eberle scored the tying goal, and eventually won the shootout that sent Canada to the gold medal game, and went on to win their fifth-consecutive gold medal. Russia would win bronze over Slovakia.