The2001 IIHF World U18 Championships were held inHeinola,Helsinki, andLahti,Finland. The championships ran between April 12 and April 22, 2001. Games were played at the Heinolan Jäähalli in Heinola, theHelsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki, and theLahden Jäähalli in Lahti.Russia defeatedSwitzerland 6–2 in the final to win the gold medal, withFinland defeating theCzech Republic 2–1 to capture the bronze medal.
Ukraine was relegated. However with Canada entering the tournament for 2002, Ukraine was re-instated to top level as the tournament was expanded to 12 teams for a year.
Ukraine were supposed to be relegated to Division I for the2002 IIHF World U18 Championships, however with the late addition ofCanada it was decided to temporarily expand the tournament to twelve teams.[1]
Netherlands were promoted to the Division II, andIsrael were relegated to Division III Qualification (which was not played, Israel returned to competition in 2003) for the2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.