IIHF Under-18 World Championship Refs and Linesmen

The IIHF Under-18 World Championship gets underway Thursday in Slovakia.

Ten teams will take the ice for the tournament along with 12 referees and 10 linesmen.  Belarus, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States will compete for the championship, with the last-place teams competing to avoid relegation to Division IA.

Here are the tournament officials:

Referees

Dipietro, Alex (SUI)
Garon, Alexandre (CAN)
Hallin, Robert (NOR)
Heikkinen, Lassi (FIN)
Hejduk, Oldrich (CZE)
Holm, Mikael (SWE)
Iwert, Marc (GER)
Kulev, Artur (RUS)
Nikolic, Manuel (AUT)
Piragic, Trpimir (CRO)
Sewell, Liam (GBR)
Thomson, Stephen (USA)

Linesmen

Caillot, Thomas (FRA)
Hagerstrom, Markus (FIN)
Harrington, Michael (CAN)
Hancock II, William (USA)
Kacej, Lukas (SVK)
Kupcus, Kriss (LAT)
Ondracek, Jiri (CZE)
Park, Jun Soo (KOR)
Vyleta, Roman (SVK)
Yletyinen, Emil (SWE)

Finland claimed the gold medal at the 2016 Under-18 World Championship. Sweden took the silver; USA won the bronze.  Canada finished fourth in the tournament.

The IIHF Under-18 World Championship runs April 13-23 in Slovakia.