1978 IIHF European U18 Championship

The 1978 IIHF European U18 Championship was the eleventh playing of the IIHF European Junior Championships. This year's tournaments offered spectacular finishes in both Group A and Group B. In Group B's championship game, the Italians led with three minutes to play before the French tied it at two. Overtime was played in two five-minute halves, both teams scored once, and finally team Italy won in a shootout.France-Italy final As great as that was, it still did not compare to the drama that Alpo Suhonen's Finnish team provided in winning Group A. Coming into the final game on January 2 in Helsinki, both Finland and the USSR had won all four previous games. Additionally, in the games that counted in the round robin final, they had both won by a combined total of eight to three. Coming into their last game, since a tie could not be settled by any rule, they would have to play overtime. It was decided that if there was a tie, they would play one full period, and then the second period (if still needed) would be sudden death.Duplacey, 473" Tom Ratschunas, writing for "Total Hockey", stated that, "The overtime stage of the game with the Soviets is still the mother of all extended playing time in Finnish hockey." The Finns tied the game at three with just a few minutes left in regulation. Twice they tied it up in the first overtime, the second goal coming with just twenty seconds left. Just one minute and forty-two seconds into the second overtime, Jari Kurri scored on Dmitri Saprykhin to make the hosts victorious. An interesting side note to the Finnish triumph was that they played without their top defenceman, Reijo Ruotsalainen because he was chosen to play in the World Juniors, which were unfortunately played at the same time in Montreal. Group A Played in Helsinki and Vantaa, Finland from December 27, 1977, to January 2, 1978. First round Group 1 Team FIN SWE SUI NOR GF/GA Points 1. FIN 2:1 10:7 11:1 23:9 6 2. SWE 1:2 7:2 14:0 22:4 4 3. SUI 7:10 2:7 6:5 15:22 2 4. NOR 1:11 0:14 5:6 6:31 0 Group 2 Team URS TCH POL FRG GF/GA Points 1. URS 3:0 8:1 13:1 24:2 6 2. TCH 0:3 8:2 13:1 21:6 4 3. POL 1:8 2:8 5:3 8:19 2 4. FRG 1:13 1:13 3:5 5:32 0 Final round Championship round Team FIN URS SWE TCH GF/GA Points 1. FIN 6:5 2o.t. (2:1) 6:2 14:8 6 2. URS 5:6 2o.t. 5:3 (3:0) 13:9 4 3. SWE (1:2) 3:5 4:2 8:9 2 4. TCH 2:6 (0:3) 2:4 4:13 0 Final Game Summary #eff January 2, 1978 URS 5 – 6 2ot FIN (2–1, 1–1, 0–1, 2–2, 0–1) Shashov   4:32Funikov 12:57Funikov 37:12Popikhin 73:53Popikhin 78:17 19:59 Kurri39:09 Lepistö46:43 Huikari76:46 Laine79:49 Huikari81:42 Kurri Ice Hall, Helsinki 7 604 Placing round Team POL SUI FRG NOR GF/GA Points 1. POL 4:3 (5:3) 6:3 15:9 6 2. SUI 3:4 10:7 (6:5) 19:16 4 3. FRG (3:5) 7:10 2:1 12:16 2 4. NOR 3:6 (5:6) 1:2 9:14 0 Norway was relegated to Group B for 1979. Tournament Awards Top Scorer: SUIHenri Loher (15 Points) Top Goalie: FINJari Paavola Top Defenceman:URSYevgeni Popikhin Top Forward: FINJari Kurri Group B Played from March 1–5, 1978. First round Group 1 Played in Den Bosch, Netherlands. Team ITA YUG NED DEN GF/GA Points 1. ITA 3:2 5:4 6:7 14:13 4 2. YUG 2:3 4:2 3:1 9:6 4 3. NED 4:5 2:4 2:0 8:9 2 4. DEN 7:6 1:3 0:2 8:11 2 Group 2 Played in Deurne, Belgium Team FRA ROM AUT BEL GF/GA Points 1. FRA 4:4 6:1 10:1 20:8 5 2. ROM 1965 4:4 5:5 12:1 21:10 4 3. AUT 1:6 5:5 16:0 22:11 3 4. BEL 1:10 1:12 0:16 2:38 0 Placing round 7th place DEN 15:2(5:1, 5:0, 5:1) BEL 5th place AUT 5:3(0:1, 0:0, 5:2) NED 3rd place ROM 1965 7:5 o.t.(1:2, 3:2, 1:1, 2:0) YUG Final ITA 4:3 s.o.(0:0, 2:1, 0:1, 1:1, 1:0) FRA Italy was promoted to Group A, and Belgium was relegated to Group C, for 1979. Group C Played in Sofia Bulgaria from January 20–26, 1979. Team HUN BUL ESP GF/GA Points 1. HUN 1957 2:26:5 8:15:5 21:13 6:2 2. BUL 1971 2:25:6 9:21:3 17:13 3:5 3. ESP 1977 1:85:5 2:93:1 11:23 3:5 Hungary was promoted to Group B for 1979. References Complete results Duplacey James Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League 1998 Total Sports 530–2 0-8362-7114-9 registration https://archive.org/details/totalhockeyoffic0000unse/page/530 Junior Category:IIHF European Junior Championships Category:International ice hockey competitions hosted by Finland Category:International ice hockey competitions hosted by the Netherlands Euro Category:Sport in Vantaa Category:International sports competitions in Helsinki Category:1970s in Helsinki Category:December 1977 sports events in Europe Category:January 1978 sports events in Europe Category:Sports competitions in Sofia Category:1970s in Sofia Category:March 1978 sports events in Europe Euro Euro Euro