After six days of competition between five regional Canadian teams and five International teams, the 2005 World Under-17 Challenge will see Team Pacific take on Team West in the gold medal game on Tuesday, January 4 at 8:00pm MT at the Enmax Centre.

TSN will televise the gold medal game on a tape delay basis, which will be aired on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 8:00pm ET / 6:00pm MT.
In Monday’s first semi-final, Team Pacific defeated Team Ontario 9-1, giving them a berth in Tuesday’s championship game. Jesse Dudas, who had 2 assists, was named player-of-the-game for Team Pacific and Cory Emmerton was named for Team Ontario. With the win, Team Pacific heads into the gold medal final for the fourth consecutive year.

Monday’s second semi-final featured a contest between Team West and Team Atlantic, with Team West coming out on top by a 7-3 margin. Ryan White, who had 2 goals and 2 assists for Team West was named player-of-the-game and Jonathon Harty had the honours for Team Atlantic. With the win, Team West will be in the final for the first time since they won gold in a split event in 1998. Team West defeated Slovakia 4 –1, Ontario 4 – 3 and Germany 7 – 2 on way to the tournament semi-final. The only defeat came at the hands of the USA dropping the contest 3 – 2.

The ten-team World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which runs Dec. 29-Jan.4, 2005, features five Canadian regional teams. Team Pacific (made up of players from British Columbia, North West Territories, Yukon and Alberta), Team Western (made up of players from Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Manitoba), Team Atlantic (made of players from Newfoundland, Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia), and Team Ontario and Team Quebec are made up of players from their respective provinces. The five international teams are representing the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia and United States.

The World Under-17 Challenge is the first step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence for the five Canadian regional teams, which identifies coaches and players for Canada’s Under-18 and World Junior Championship teams. 20 of Canada’s 22 players at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship played at previous Under-17 events.

For game details, including rosters, photos, statistics and game summaries for all the tournament games, please visit Hockey Canada’s official website at Hockey Canada