History

The Men’s Under-19 World Championships commenced in 1988 with Australia, the USA, Japan and Canada playing host. The championship tournament runs every four years. The USA has won all seven previous championships, but with two losses in the tournament in 2012 held in Turku, Finland, during the round-robin stage, signs of increased parity were showing. ​

Twelve teams attended the 2008 and 2012 U-19 championships, with Australia, Bermuda, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Iroquois Nationals, Japan, Korea, Scotland, USA and Wales in 2008, and the Czech Republic and Netherlands replacing Bermuda and Japan in the 2012 event in Turku.  

The 2016 tournament was once again hosted by Canada, with an expanded field of fourteen teams which included previous participants Canada, USA, Iroquois Nationals, Australia, England, Germany, Korea and Scotland, as well as newcomers Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, China and of course Ireland.  In a close final, the USA came back from an 8-2 deficit to Canada at halftime to win 13-12, scoring the winning goal with 8 seconds remaining in the game to retain their gold medal. Let's hope for an equally thrilling 2022 event!