Top 10 World Junior Goaltending Performances of all time

Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Think about your favorite World Junior Championship memories. How many of them feature goaltenders?

Goaltending can make or break you at a high-profile tournament like this. For 18 and 19-year-olds, this is the most pressure they’ve likely ever had to face in their short hockey careers. It’s a lot to handle – and that’s why big-time performances always seem to get extra love. You simply can’t hide when you’re the only one manning the blue paint.

Today, we’re counting down 10 of the best, most memorable goalie performances in tournament history. From downright dominance to unlikely heroes, all 10 of these players managed to stand out in their own way:

10. Al Montoya (USA, 2004)

Before they became the powerhouse World Junior threat they are today, the United States had never won gold before the 2004 tournament. However, with the emergence of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, they were starting to become a more consistent threat. USA’s team that year had tournament MVP Zach Parise, Ryan Kesler and Ryan Suter, all of whom would become NHL stars. Canada had Marc-Andre Fleury – the best goaltending prospect at the time – Brent Seabrook, Dion Phaneuf, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Anthony Stewart and a young Sidney Crosby. On paper, Canada looked like the favorites, and they’d go on to play for gold. But Montoya posted a perfect 6-0-0 record with two shutouts and a .944 save percentage. It was a good American team, for sure, but Montoya was doing a lot of the heavy lifting and was easily in contention for tournament MVP honors. Montoya would make 27 saves in the final game, edging out Fleury when it mattered most.

Montoya would use that star power to get selected sixth overall by the New York Rangers in 2004. He’d return for a second World Juniors, but USA ultimately failed to medal. From there, Montoya never managed to play a game for the Rangers but would make his debut with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2008-09. He’d never come close to living up to his draft designation, but he did have an overall career record of 67-49-24 over 11 NHL seasons before retiring after 2018-19.

9. Tomas Duba (Czechia, 2001)

There’s always one goalie that uses the World Juniors to put themselves on the map. Tomas Duba was one of them, using a great showing in 2001 to get selected in the seventh round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The mid-sized goalkeeper went a perfect 7-0-0 with two shutouts and a .947 save percentage in 2001, earning him top goalie honors. Pavel Brendl, Zdenek Blatny and Vaclav Nedorost did most of the scoring that year, while future NHLers Martin Erat, Radim Vrbata and Tomas Plekanec played depth roles that season. Duba had to outperform some quality goalies that year – most notably Henrik Lundqvist, Rick DiPietro and Peter Budaj. He only allowed eight goals all tournament in every single game, which is hard for anyone to achieve.

Duba would go on to play for Czechia in select men’s national team games over the rest of his career, but never at the World Championship. He’d become a journeyman, bouncing between European teams before finishing up with the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers in 2019-20. Duba never played a single NHL game, while Lundqvist would go on to become one of the all-time greats. Sometimes, you just get hot for a few games and that’s it – but it was enough to make him a big piece of Czech hockey lore for the rest of time.

8. David Aebischer (Switzerland, 1998)

Switzerland has only one World Junior medal to their credit, and it came on the heels of an absolutely fantastic showing from Aebischer in 1998. He went 4-1-1 with a shutout and a .951 save percentage to earn himself top goalie and all-star team honors. More importantly, though, it helped Switzerland win bronze.

Aebischer was Patrick Roy’s backup goaltender when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001 and eventually became the team’s starter once Roy retired. The Geneve, Switzerland native also backstopped the Swiss at the 2006 Olympics in one of his final appearances with the national team. Today, the 46-year-old serves as Fribourg-Gotteron’s goalie coach, and even helped out the Swiss U-19 team last year in the same capacity.

7. Benjamin Conz, G (Switzerland, 2010)

Sure, Conz’s .893 save percentage and 4.76 goals-against average look ugly on the surface, but he faced an average of 45 shots per game, and he stood on his head each outing. Conz’s 50-save effort against Russia in a 3-2 overtime win in the quarterfinals in Saskatchewan will forever go down as one of the most memorable single-game performances in world junior history. It helped Switzerland finish fourth after just receiving a promotion to the top tournament.

Conz was actually better, statistically, the following year, but Switzerland was knocked out in the quarterfinal. To this date, Conz has not represented Switzerland in an IIHF World Championship event, but he did lead the National League in Switzerland in wins in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

6. Devon Levi (Canada, 2021)

Levi only played seven games of competitive hockey in 2020-21 – but, boy, did he make them count. Levi was Canada’s starter during a year stricken by COVID-19. It was a bit of a surprise, given he had was a Canadian Jr. A alum fresh off of a seventh-round selection by the Florida Panthers. But Levi was outstanding, going 6-1-0 with three shutouts and an all-time record save percentage of .964 – allowing just five goals throughout. Unfortunately for Levi, the one loss – and the only time he allowed multiple goals – resulted in a 2-0 loss in the final at the hands of the United States, souring what was an otherwise insane run. He even had a shutout in a pretournament game against Russia.

And to think: this was all before Levi touched foot at Northeastern University, where he established himself as one of the best NCAA goalies – not only at the time, but in the 21st century. Levi’s pro career hasn’t been smooth sailing, however. He split last year between the Buffalo Sabres and the AHL’s Rochester Americans, and was sent back to the AHL in November after an ugly start with the big club. Levi is still young at 22 (23 on Dec. 27), so there’s still a lot of runway left to go.

5. Steve Mason (Canada, 2008)

Mason always seemed like an unlikely star. He primarily played Single A hockey for most of his time growing up (one of the lower levels of travel hockey) before making stops with some Jr. B and Jr. C clubs. But when Mason became starter of the London Knights in 2006-07, he stole the show and never looked back. His 2008 World Juniors performance was one of the best highlights of his career, going 5-0-0 with a .951 save percentage. He earned top goalie honors and was given the rare distinction for goalies as tournament MVP, edging out strong performances from USA’s James van Riemsdyk, Russia’s Nikita Filatov, Canada’s Drew Doughty and Sweden’s Victor Hedman.

Mason would then immediately steal the starting job with the Columbus Blue Jackets the following year, where he won the Calder Trophy as top goaltender thanks to an insane 10-shutout campaign. Quickly, Mason became one of the NHL’s top young goaltenders. Unfortunately, he never regained the magic again and only broke past the 30-win barrier once more before eventually retiring during the 2017-18 season.

4. Manny Legace (Canada, 1993)

Many World Junior historians point to Legace’s play in 1993 as a defining moment in the tournament’s history. Back in the day, there wasn’t the proper tournament-style format like we’re used to today. Back then, it was all about snagging the most points possible, and head-to-head matchups meant more than ever. Legace went a perfect 6-0-0, with the most important win coming in a 5-4 decision over Sweden on the second day of the tournament. The Swedes were the team to beat that year, with Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund and Niklas Sundstrom sitting at the top of the scoring charts. The Swedes scored 16 more goals than Canada during those seven games, so being able to stand tall was crucial. The 58-save effort against Finland was one of the main reasons he secured goalie of the tournament honors.

Legace would go on to play the following year with Team Canada’s full-season squad, a group put together to challenge for Olympic gold. He didn’t start a game during the 1994 Winter Games, but he was credited with a silver. Legace wouldn’t become a full-time NHLer until the 2000-01 season with Detroit, but he won the Stanley Cup in 2002 and would represent the St. Louis Blues in the 2008 NHL all-star game. Legace never played a single game for Canada again after the 1993 World Juniors, but at least he capped off his national team run with a perfect record.

3. Carey Price (Canada, 2007)

Before he was a Vezina Trophy winner and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Price was a young kid with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. just under two years after getting drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, Price had perhaps the most talked-about effort by a Canadian goaltender when he went 6-0-0 with two shutouts at the 2007 World Juniors. Price had a .961 save percentage that year, which was the record up until Levi’s hot run in 2021.

Price earned tournament MVP honors with those numbers, but he might be remembered most for his play in a wild 2-1 shootout victory over Patrick Kane and the United States in the semifinal. Jonathan Toews’ hat trick stole the headlines, but Price was dialed in when it mattered – and his celebration is still used in promo clips for the tournament to this day. Price to outduel Semyon Varlamov in the gold medal game to help Canada secure their third consecutive gold medal. Price may have never won the Stanley Cup, but his international play helped establish the former Canadiens superstar as one of the best goaltenders of his generation.

2. John Gibson (USA, 2013)

It’s been a while since Gibson was a real top-10 threat in the NHL. But in 2013, he was the best junior goalie in the world and a deserving recipient of the MVP award, making him the fifth goaltender to win it in the 2000s. With a 1.36 GAA, .955 SP, and only nine goals allowed, Gibson out-dueled Andrei Vasilevskiy during the tournament in Russia. Gibson played in all seven games but really showcased his game-changing ability in the medal round. He allowed two goals total in three games against Czechia, Canada and Sweden for the gold medal-winning Americans.

Gibson went on to put on a heck of a show at the World Championship a few months later before getting his first NHL action with the Anaheim Ducks in 2013-14. It’s been over a decade since Gibson last represented his country internationally, but he did share the net with Matt Murray on Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

1. Denis Godla (Slovakia, 2015)

Nobody will soon forget the incredible performance Godla put up in 2015. Slovakia had just seven goals in four round-robin contests, relying on Godla to do the heavy lifting en route to a bronze medal. He was massive for the Slovaks, playing in all seven games and finishing with a 2.76 GAA and .926 SP. He was crowned the best goaltender by both the media and the IIHF awards committee. Godla was the only goalie to face more than 200 shots (242).

No goalie has matched his 224-save total ever since. Nobody could have predicted that Godla would win the MVP honors heading into the season – heck, he wasn’t even the sure-fire starter for Slovakia, either. Godla was never drafted to the NHL and has bounced around internationally the past few years, but he did serve as Slovakia’s third-stringer at the recent Olympic qualification tournament that saw the nation earn a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy.

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