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I've done this once before, and figured it was a good time to bring the updated version. On the sidebar of this site, I have a Junior Hockey World Ranking, which is based on the results of the IIHF U18 and U20 World Championships of the past four years. I use the same formula that the IIHF uses to determine their annual World Rankings, and combine the results of the U18 and U20 tournaments evenly to get this ranking.
The Americans are the most consistent performers by this combined measure, thanks to their domination of the U18 level. Americans are producing top prospects through multiple developmental systems, taking advantage of opportunties in the Canadian Hockey League as well as strengthening their own junior leagues such as the United States Hockey League (an excellent developmental league), which preps players for the NCAA system. The US National Team Development Program, directly responsible for the Americans U18 team, is now being modeled by other nations for their own programs.
That said, this ranking is based on the small sample sizes of the tournaments themselves, which is why I include NHL Draft Picks, plus players that are picked in the top two rounds for reference (although that measure is woefully deficient for Russia, for example). Draft picks are for the past five NHL drafts, from 2007-11, while 2012 tournament hosts are in bold.
| Rank | Country | U18 (Rank) | U20 (Rank) | Points | Draft Picks | Top 2 Rounds | 2012 U20s | Up/Down |
| 1 | United States | 2980 (1) | 2825 (2) | 5805 | 281 | 79 | Group B | - |
| 2 | Sweden | 2835 (2) | 2810 (4) | 5645 | 104 | 37 | Group A | +1 |
| 3 | Russia | 2815 (3) | 2820 (3) | 5635 | 42 | 14 | Group A | +1 |
| 4 | Canada | 2700 (5) | 2930 (1) | 5630 | 509 | 150 | Group B | -2 |
| 5 | Finland | 2720 (4) | 2595 (5) | 5315 | 38 | 7 | Group B | - |
| 6 | Switzerland | 2530 (6) | 2585 (6) | 5115 | 8 | 4 | Group A | +1 |
| 7 | Czech Republic | 2510 (7) | 2535 (7) | 5045 | 26 | 5 | Group A | -1 |
| 8 | Slovakia | 2425 (9) | 2515 (8) | 4940 | 14 | 4 | Group B | - |
| 9 | Germany | 2465 (8) | 2340 (10) | 4805 | 13 | 0 | Div. 1A | - |
| 10 | Latvia | 2310 (11) | 2355 (9) | 4665 | 1 | 0 | Group A | - |
| 11 | Norway | 2340 (10) | 2250 (11) | 4590 | 6 | 0 | Div. 1A | +2 |
| 12 | Denmark | 2225 (12) | 2225 (12) | 4450 | 6 | 3 | Group B | - |
Canada's U20 performance has been great, but the country hasn't been able to translate their depth into as much success at the U18 level recently. Obviously, the CHL playoffs play a major role, but one must also note that playing on home ice in the U20s as often as they do helps a lot in that tournament. Sweden consitently reaching the semifinals gets them to second place, but they really need to win one of these tournaments sometime soon. Switzerland is now solidly ahead of the Czechs, although part of that has to do with favourable draws in recent tournaments, including this next one.
The rankings for the less gifted hockey countries are after the jump.
| Rank | Country | U18 (Rank) | U20 (Rank) | Points | Draft Picks | Top 2 Rounds | 2012 U20s | Up/Down |
| 13 | Belarus | 2205 (13) | 2160 (14) | 4365 | 2 | 0 | Div. 1A | -2 |
| 14 | Kazakhstan | 2020 (16) | 2095 (16) | 4115 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1B | - |
| 15 | Austria | 1870 (21) | 2215 (13) | 4085 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1A | - |
| 16 | Slovenia | 1890 (20) | 2095 (15) | 3985 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1A | +3 |
| 17 | Italy | 1920 (19) | 2000 (17) | 3920 | 1 | 0 | Div. 1B | +1 |
| 18 | France | 2000 (17) | 1830 (19) | 3830 | 1 | 1 | Div. 1B | -1 |
| 19 | Japan | 2035 (14) | 1795 (22) | 3830 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1B | +2 |
| 20 | Poland | 2030 (15) | 1750 (23) | 3780 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1B | -4 |
| 21 | Hungary | 1980 (18) | 1680 (25) | 3660 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | -1 |
| 22 | Great Britain | 1810 (22) | 1800 (20) | 3610 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1A | +2 |
| 23 | Ukraine | 1700 (24) | 1850 (18) | 3550 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | -1 |
| 24 | Lithuania | 1695 (25) | 1730 (24) | 3425 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | -1 |
| 25 | Croatia | 1490 (28) | 1800 (21) | 3290 | 0 | 0 | Div. 1B | - |
| 26 | South Korea | 1760 (23) | 1450 (28) | 3210 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | - |
| 27 | The Netherlands | 1515 (27) | 1535 (26) | 3050 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | - |
| 28 | Romania | 1560 (26) | 1365 (30) | 2925 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | +1 |
| 29 | Spain | 1395 (30) | 1450 (27) | 2845 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2A | +1 |
| 30 | Estonia | 1405 (29) | 1425 (29) | 2830 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | -2 |
| 31 | Belgium | 1305 (31) | 1360 (31) | 2665 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | - |
| 32 | Serbia | 1295 (32) | 1135 (34) | 2430 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | - |
| 33 | China | 1235 (33) | 1180 (32) | 2415 | 0 | 0 | Div. 3 | - |
| 34 | Mexico | 1055 (37) | 1180 (33) | 2235 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | - |
| 35 | Australia | 1145 (34) | 925 (35) | 2070 | 0 | 0 | Div. 2B | - |
| 36 | Iceland | 1095 (35) | 915 (36) | 2010 | 0 | 0 | Div. 3 | - |
| 37 | New Zealand | 1085 (36) | 755 (37) | 1840 | 0 | 0 | Div. 3 | - |
| 38 | Turkey | 885 (39) | 720 (38) | 1605 | 0 | 0 | Div. 3 | - |
| 39 | Chinese Taipei | 935 (38) | 590 (41) | 1525 | 0 | 0 | - | +1 |
| 40 | Bulgaria | 855 (41) | 660 (40) | 1515 | 0 | 0 | Div. 3 | -1 |
| 41 | South Africa | 860 (40) | 90 (43) | 950 | 0 | 0 | - | - |
| 42 | North Korea | 0 | 700 (39) | 700 | 0 | 0 | - | +4 |
| 43 | Israel | 695 (42) | 0 | 695 | 0 | 0 | - | -1 |
| 44 | Mongolia | 685 (43) | 0 | 685 | 0 | 0 | - | -1 |
| 45 | Ireland | 670 (44) | 0 | 670 | 0 | 0 | - | -1 |
| 46 | Armenia | 65 (45) | 100 (42) | 165 | 0 | 0 | - | -1 |
I'll be covering the lower tournaments here, as the Division 1 and 2 levels run Dec. 11-18, while Div. 3 goes in the new year.
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