Canada has not won the world junior hockey tournament since 1997, when it captured its fifth consecutive championship. Canada is the only team to have won a medal in each of the past five years: three silvers and two bronzes. . . . The medal contenders for this year's event are the defending champion Russia, the United States, Czech Republic and Canada. . . . Russia is led by teenage phenom Alexander Ovechkin, 18, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound centre with Moscow Dynamo. He is a sure bet to be selected first overall in the 2004 National Hockey League draft. . . . The United States has never won the world junior tournament, but with eight returnees from last year, its team will be strong. This is basically the lineup that won the 2002 world under-18 title. Finland defeated the United States 4-1 in an exhibition game last week. . . . Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 and Austria 6-1 in exhibition games. . . . While Ovechkin will likely be No. 1 in the 2004 NHL draft, Canadian centre Sidney Crosby is expected to go first in 2005. . . . Canadian coach Mario Durocher has Crosby playing between Jeff Tambellini and Daniel Paille, Jeff Carter with Ryan Getzlaf and Brent Burns, Mike Richards with Nigel Dawes and Anthony Stewart and Maxime Talbot with Stephen Dixon and Tim Brent. The team's 13th forward, Jeremy Colliton, has rotated in with the Talbot line. The defence pairings are Dion Phaneuf and Derek Meech, Shawn Belle and Kevin Klein and Braydon Coburn and Brent Seabrook. Josh Gorges will begin the tournament as the seventh defenceman, but will see time on the power play. . . . The 10-country tournament is split into two groups. Canada is in Group B with Finland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Switzerland. Group A consists of the United States, Russia, Sweden, Slovakia and Austria. The top three teams in each group will advance to the medal round. . . . The last time the tournament was held in Finland, Canada finished eighth, its worst showing in the event's history. The dismal performance ended with an embarrassing 6-3 loss to Kazakhstan in Hameenlinna, an hour north of Helsinki. The Canadian coach, Real Paiement, did not dress Josh Holden, Brad Ference and Brian Willsie for an earlier game against United States because they were late for a team meeting. The trio became known as the Hameenlinna Three. . . . Unlike the last time the world junior tournament was held in Helsinki, the games will not be played in the modern Hartwell Arena, but in the older Helsingin Jaahalli. Built in 1966, the Helsingin Jaahalli is a recently refurbished 8,000-seat rink.