The exhibition games played prior to the tournament took place between November 1 and 3, in Trail, Nelson, and Castlegar, British Columbia, and Okotoks, Alberta.

Team USA beat Russia 9-6 in the Bronze Medal Game to claim third place.

Featuring a strong roster of undrafted Tier I Junior "A" players from the United States Hockey League, the USA had the potential to be a contender for the tournament's top prize.

A newly formed Canada West squad challenged the local Trail Smoke Eaters of the British Columbia Hockey League.

Smoke Eaters almost created a massive upset against the defending WJAC champs, but fell short with a 2-1 loss to Canada West.

The other game of the night saw the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League host Team Germany.

Facing a 2-1 deficit, the Canadians scored three straight goals in the second period and then held of a hungry Russian squad for the 4-3 victory.

With five seconds left in overtime, Belarusian goaltender Valeriy Pronin lost a race for a loose puck against American Barry Almeida which resulted in an empty net game-winning goal for the USA with seconds left in the frame.

Exactly halfway through the fourth frame, Barry Almeida of the American squad scored to win the contest.

Canada West had their opportunity to make up for their embarrassing exhibition loss to the Russians that night.

Belarus started taking untimely penalties and Pittsburgh Penguins' prospect Casey Pierro-Zabotel scored a natural hat trick in only 4 minutes and 2 seconds.

Jordon Watts scored a second period shorthanded marker to put Canada East up 1-0.

The victory sets up an East-West rematch of last years WJAC and also Russia vying for their second straight bronze medal against the unpredictable Team USA.

After this, the Americans netted two quick ones to tie the game at three, only to have the Russians score more to close the period with a 5-3 lead.

With the win, the West has won the first two ever WJAC championships and the East has to settle for their second straight silver medal.

Players: Vitali Trus, Vitali Belinski, Valeriy Pronin, Oleg Goroshko, Aleksandr Eronov, Dmitry Shumski, Georgi Yaskevich, Sergei Kopylets, Sergei Sheleg, Aleksei Golubev, Nikolai Goncharov, Dmitry Korobov, Aleksandr Syrei, Roman Ladik, Aleksandr Korotkevich, Pavel Razvodovski, Kirill Brikun, Andrei Kolosov, Aleksandr Pavlovich, Artem Demkov, Igor Voroshilov, Nikita Komarov, Mikhail Stsefanovich, Vladimir Mikhailov, Dmitry Gorbunov, Pavel Dashkov, Andrei Stas, Yuri Eliseenko Staff: Andrei Rasolko, Alexandre Andrievski, Dmitry Kravchenko, Sviatoslav Kiselev, Andrei Konstantinovich, Dmitry Konyakhin, Pavel Golovatski

Players: Bryan Gillis, Kori Coelho, Alexandre Fournier, Justin Troiani, Brendan Bureau, Brandon Burlon, Evan Zych, Chris Haltigin, Daniel Spivak, Corey Tamblyn, Ethan Werek, James McIntosh, Louke Oakley, Corey Trivino, Chris Kangas, Jeremy Franklin, Geoff Hum, Jordan Watts, Michael Budd, Mike McLaughlin, Adam Brace Staff: Jerome Dupont, Mark Grady, Troy Ryan, Marty Abrams, Brent Ladds, Bob Baird, Darren Allan

Players: Bradley Eidsness, Allen York, Andrew MacWilliams, Derek Robinson, Scott Enders, Jeff Forsythe, Damon Kipped, Steven Seigo, Tommy Brown, Trevor Nill, Wes Pawluk, Ryan Magill, Andrew Cherniwchan, Joe Colborne, Derek Lee, Brooks Robinson, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Russell Goodman, Taylor Gal, Mike Connolly, Zac Dalpe, Brett Hextall Staff: Boris Rybalka, Al Glendinning, Dwight McMillan, Darcy Rota, Kim Davis, Wayne Hubbard, Carolyn Glover

Players: Etienne Renkewitz, Christian Wendler, Markus Keller, Andreas Tanzer, Andre Mangold, Sinan Akdag, Sebastian Eickmann, Gregor Stein, Sören Sturm, Jens Heyer, Nicolas Ackermann, Robin Thomson, Daniel Mohle, Martin Buchwieser, Michael Christ, Patrick Geiger, Thomas Weiszdorn, Andre Huebscher, Alexander Oblinger, Dimitri Litesov, Daniel Oppolzer, Michael Rimbeck, Steven Ruppich, Robert Schopf, Marc Wittforth, David Wolf, Martin Hinterstocker Staff: Jeffery Tomlinson, Rupert Meister, Michael Pfuhl, Michael Ulmer, Heinz Endres, Wolfgang Fischer

Players: Danila Alistratov, Andrey Petukhov, Alexander Pechurskiy, Igor Golovkov, Andrey Grenkov, Dimitry Kostromitin, Anton Klementiev, Dmitry Kulikov, Pavel Lukin, Dmitri Kozlov, Vyacheslav Voinov, Maxim Chudinov, Eduard Orlov, Pavel Chernov, Anton Lazarev, Vyacheslav Kulemin, Andrey Kuchin, Mikhail Fisenko, Maxim Trunev, Ilya Zagretdinov, Andrei Loktionov, Dmitri Kugryshev, Evgeni Grachev, Kirill Petrov, Sergei Ostapchuk, Igor Biryukov, Magomed Gimbatov, Nikita Filatov Staff: Alexander Biryukov, Valery Davletshin, Vladislav Kokarev, Sergey Gimaev, Maxim Elizarov, Igor Tkachenok

Players: Josh Robinson, Brady Hjelle, Maxim Nicastro, Tyler Kieffer, John Lee, John Carlson, Seth Helgeson, Ben Blood, Blake Kessel, Mike Cichy, Nicolas Sacchetti, Jared Festler, Keegan Flaherty, Craig Smith, Jimmy Hayes, Nick Larson, Barry Almeida, Jack Connolly, Nick Dineen, Tim Hall, Drew LeBlanc Staff: P. K. O'Handley, Regg Simon, Marc Boxer, Darrin Flinchem, Todd Klein, Leo Chen Most Valuable Player