Kazakhstan was promoted to the top division for the first time for the 1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, hosted in Helsinki, Finland.

However, a 14–1 loss to eventual gold-medalists Finland sent Kazakhstan to the placement games, where they stunned observers by defeating five-time defending champion Canada 6–3 to finish 7th at the tournament.

[1] Led by captain Nikolai Antropov, the Kazakhstan team remained at the top level for the 1999 World Junior tournament in Winnipeg, Canada.

The following year, Kazakhstan managed another group stage victory, this time over Ukraine, before falling to the Czech Republic 6–3 in the quarterfinals and finishing 8th.

The team was relegated again at the 2009 tournament in Ottawa, Canada, where they suffered their largest defeat at the top level, losing 15–0 against the Canadians.