The 1998 IIHF European U18 Championship was the thirty-first playing of the IIHF European Junior Championships.

Group A Played April 11 to the 19th in Malung and Mora, Sweden. The hosts, led by twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, won their tenth European Junior title.

First round Group 1 Team RUS FIN CZE NOR GF/GA Points 1. 4:1 2:2 5:1 11:4 5 2. 1:4 7:2 8:0 16:6 4 3. 2:2 2:7 12:1 16:10 3 4. 1:5 0:8 1:12 2:25 0

Group 2 Team SWE SUI SVK UKR GF/GA Points 1. 6:0 5:3 13:1 24:4 6 2. 0:6 4:1 5:1 9:8 4 3. 3:5 1:4 5:1 9:10 2 4. 1:13 1:5 1:5 3:23 0

Final round The Czechs had the very unfortunate distinction of finishing tied for first, and actually finishing completely out of the medals. Coming into the final game against the Russians, the Swedes could lose or tie, and finish fourth, win by one or two goals and finish third, win by three and finish second, or win by four or more and be the champions. They led five to one after two, and played a scoreless third to clinch gold. Championship round Team SWE FIN RUS CZE SUI SVK GF/GA Points Tie 1H2H Points Tie 2H2H GD Tie 3H2H Points Tie 4Overall GD 1. 2:2 5:1 4:6 (6:0) (5:3) 22:12 7 3 +2 1 +10 2. 2:2 (1:4) (7:2) 3:2 4:2 17:12 7 3 +2 1 +5 3. 1:5 (4:1) (2:2) 4:0 2:1 13:9 7 3 -1 4. 6:4 (2:7) (2:2) 7:1 5:3 21:17 7 3 -3 5. (0:6) 2:3 0:4 1:7 (4:1) 7:20 2 6. (3:5) 2:4 1:2 3:5 (1:4) 10:20 0

7th place 1:2(0:0, 0:1, 1:1) 4:3(2:1, 2:1, 0:1) 5:2(3:0, 2:1, 0:1)

No team was relegated, all eight nations were joined by Group B winner, Germany, and the United States to participate in the first IIHF World U18 Championships.

Tournament awards Top scorer Daniel Sedin (11 points) Top goalie: Kristian Antila Top defenceman: Mikko Jokela Top forward: Daniel Sedin

Group B Played April 5 to the 12th in Füssen and Memmingen Germany. The hosts did not dominate, but still won all their games, to return to the top level.

First round Group 1 Team GER BLR DEN GBR GF/GA Points 1. 4:2 4:3 5:0 13:5 6 2. 2:4 6:3 4:0 12:7 4 3. 3:4 3:6 5:1 11:11 2 4. 0:5 0:4 1:5 1:14 0

Group 2 Team POL ITA HUN FRA GF/GA Points 1. 4:1 5:4 2:1 11:6 6 2. 1:4 4:1 3:1 8:6 4 3. 4:5 1:4 5:1 10:10 2 4. 1:2 1:3 1:5 3:10 0

Final round Championship round Team GER ITA POL HUN BLR DEN GF/GA Points 1. 5:2 4:0 4:1 (4:2) (4:3) 21:8 10 2. 2:5 (1:4) (4:1) 2:0 9:1 18:11 6 3. 0:4 (4:1) (5:4) 5:8 6:6 20:23 5 4. 1:4 (1:4) (4:5) 2:1 12:9 20:23 4 5. (2:4) 0:2 8:5 1:2 (6:3) 17:16 4 6. (3:4) 1:9 6:6 9:12 (3:6) 22:37 1

7th place 11:1(3:0, 6:1, 2:0) 5:2(1:0, 2:0, 2:2)

Germany was promoted to Group A of the IIHF World U18 Championships. The remaining seven nations were joined by Group C winner Austria to form Group B of the IIHF World U18 Championships.

Group C Played March 16 to the 20th in Zagreb, Croatia. On final day the host Croats had to face Yugoslavia to determine who would be relegated. Because of the expansion of the top tier to ten teams, it did not matter in the end, but it was a very tense affair at the time.

First round Group 1 Team AUT SLO ROM YUG GF/GA Points 1. 5:3 15:3 13:1 33:7 6 2. 3:5 9:1 10:0 22:6 4 3. 3:15 1:9 6:3 10:27 2 4. 1:13 0:10 3:6 4:29 0

Group 2 Team LAT LTU EST CRO GF/GA Points 1. 6:1 7:0 10:4 23:5 6 2. 1:6 4:1 7:6 12:13 4 3. 0:7 1:4 4:2 5:13 2 4. 4:10 6:7 2:4 12:21 0

Placing round 7th place 5:3(1:1, 2:1, 2:1) 5th place 5:0forfeit 3rd place 3:2(0:1, 2:1, 1:0) Final 4:3(0:2, 2:1, 2:0)

Austria was promoted to Group B of the IIHF World U18 Championships. No nation was relegated, the remaining Group C nations would take part in Division I of the 1999 U18 European Championships.

Group D Played from March 3–9 in Luxembourg. Two new entrants participated this year, the hosts, and Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs switched from playing in the Asian junior tournament, to the European. The Kazakh squad was a much better team than was suited for this level, scoring over 150 goals in five games. The Dutch were the only ones to lose by less than fifteen to the Kazakhs. Leading the team, a young Nik Antropov collected 54 points.

First round Group 1 Team NED BEL BUL ISR GF/GA Points 1. 7:3 12:0 12:0 31:3 6 2. 3:7 12:1 8:0 23:8 4 3. 0:12 1:12 3:2 4:26 2 4. 0:12 0:8 2:3 2:23 0

Group 2 Team KAZ ESP ISL LUX GF/GA Points 1. 19:2 63:0 39:0 121:2 6 2. 2:19 4:1 17:2 23:22 4 3. 0:63 1:4 4:2 5:69 2 4. 0:39 2:17 2:4 4:60 0

Final round Championship round Team KAZ NED BEL ESP GF/GA Points 1. 14:1 20:1 (19:2) 53:4 6 2. 1:14 (7:3) 4:1 12:18 4 3. 1:20 (3:7) 5:3 9:30 2 4. (2:19) 1:4 3:5 6:28 0

Placing round Team BUL ISR ISL LUX GF/GA Points 1. (3:2) 9:2 5:2 17:6 6 2. (2:3) 4:4 4:1 10:8 3 3. 2:9 4:4 (4:2) 10:15 3 4. 2:5 1:4 (2:4) 5:13 0

Kazakhstan was promoted to the newly titled Division I of the 1999 U18 European Championships.

References

Complete results