The IIHF Officials have been selected for the 2023 Under-18 World Championship.
The tournament, which will be held in Switzerland, gets underway on April 20, with the gold medal game set for Sunday, April 30 in Basel’s St. Jakob Arena. Group A features Canada, Czechia, Germany, Slovakia, and Sweden. Group B includes Finland, Latvia, Norway, Switzerland, and USA.
Referees
Geoffrey Barcelo #16 (FRA)
Nolan Bloyer #21 (USA) E
Riku Brander #17 (FIN) 1,4
Dominic Cadieux #20 (CAN) A,E
Daniel Eriksson #25 (SWE)
Micha Hebeisen #12 (SUI) 4
Martin Jobbagy #13 (SVK)
Adam Kika #19 (CZE) 1,4
Lukas Kohlmueller #18 (GER) 2,4
Christian Ofner #15 (AUT)
Ludek Pilny #23 (CZE)
Loic Ruprecht #14 (SUI)
Linespersons
Nicolas Boivin #61 (CAN) A,3
Emil Dalsgaard #59 (DEN)
Oto Durmis #63 (SVK)
Shane Gustafson #52 (USA) A,E
Niko Jusi #64 (FIN) 1
Markus Merk #57 (GER)
Tobias Nordlander #65 (SWE)
Lukas Rampir #60 (CZE)
Simon Riecken #62 (AUT)
Dominik Schlegel #51 (SUI)
1: Officiated 2022 World Juniors. 2: Officiated 2022 U18. 3. Officiated 2022 U20, DIII 4: Officiated 2021 U18s
A: Officiating in the AHL for 2022-23. E: Officiating in the ECHL for 2022-23
Nice to see Kohlmueller returning to the tourney after a scary injury took him out of the 2022 Under-18s.
Officiating coaches are Lars Bruggemann (GER), Lukas Jankovic (CZE), Sascha Kunz (SUI), Klas Oestergren (SWE), Masi Puolakka (FIN), and Patrik Sjoberg (SWE).
From the IIHF:
The games in Basel will be held at the 6,612-capacity St. Jakob Arena that was opened in 2002 and serves as the home arena of EHC Basel. The arena will host Group B, two-quarter-final games, all semi-final and medal games.
The Raiffeisen Arena in Porrentruy with a capacity for 4,761 spectators will serve as second venue. It was renovated in 2020 and is home to HC Ajoie. The city in the canton of Jura will host all Group A games, two quarter-final games and the best-of-three relegation round between the fifth-place teams of each group.
The quarter-finals will be played at both venues on 27 April with Switzerland playing the early game in Basel if qualified. The semi-finals and medal games will be played during the weekend of 29/30 April.
Congratulations and good luck to the 22 officials selected to work the 2023 IIHF Under-18 World Championship.
