The 1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1996 WJHC) was the 20th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, hosted in Massachusetts, United States. The tournament was won by Canada—defeating Sweden 4–1 in the gold-medal game—earning Canada their fourth straight gold medal and ninth overall, tying the Soviet team's record in both regards. Attendance was less than spectacular for the championships in the United States. It would be the last time the US would host the tournament until 2005 in Grand Forks. Among this edition of the tournament's future NHL stars were Milan Hejduk, Miikka Kiprusoff, Chris Drury, Marco Sturm, José Théodore, Mattias Öhlund, Daymond Langkow, Sergei Samsonov and tournament scoring leader Jarome Iginla. This was the first World Juniors tournament to implement the two groups, round-robin/preliminaries and playoff format. It was also Slovakia's first appearance at the top level in the junior tournament.

Round robin

Group A

Group B

Relegation round

was relegated for the 1997 World Junior Championships.

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

5th place game

Bronze medal game

Gold medal game

Scoring leaders

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Tournament awards

Final standings

Pool B

The second tier was held in Sosnowiec and Tychy, Poland, from December 28 to January 4. Two groups of four played round robins, and then the top three played each of the top three teams from the other group. All scores carried forward except the results against the lone eliminated team from each group.

Preliminary round

Final Round

was promoted to Pool A for 1997.

Relegation Round

was relegated to Pool C for 1997.

Pool C

Played in Jesenice, Bled, and Kranj, Slovenia, from December 30 to January 3.

Preliminary round

Placement Games

was promoted to Pool B, and was relegated to Pool D for 1997.

Pool D

Played in Tallinn, Estonia, from December 31 to January 4.

Preliminary round

Placement Games

was promoted to Pool C for 1997.