ST.JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND – After six days of competition between five regional Canadian teams and five International teams, the 2004 World Under-17 Challenge will see Team Pacific take on Team Ontario in the gold medal game on Sunday, .

Team Pacific and Team Ontario will face-off on Sunday at Mile One Stadium in St.John's, Newfoundland at 7:30pm (Atlantic Time). These two teams met in the round robin portion of the event earlier in the week, tying 5-5 which included Pacific coming back from a 4-0 deficit in the second period to tie the game.

TSN will televise the gold medal game on a tape delay basis, which will be aired on Monday, Jan. 5 at 3:00pm ET / 12noon PT, immediately following the 2004 World Junior Hockey Championship Gold Medal Game between Team Canada and Team USA from Finland which will be aired 12noon ET / 9am PT on Monday, .

In Saturday's first semi-final, Team Pacific defeated Team USA 7-4, giving them a berth in Sunday's championship game. Gilbert Brule, who had one goal and three assists, was named player-of-the-game for Team Pacific and Nathan Gerbe was named for Team USA. Team Pacific finished the round robin portion of the tournament with a 3-0-2 record.

Saturday's second semi-final featured a contest between Team Ontario and Team Quebec, with Team Ontario coming out on top by a 2-1 score. Ryan Wilson, who had both Ontario goals, was named player-of-the-game for Team Ontario. Ontario finished the round robin portion of the tournament in first place in the B pool with a 4-0-1 record.

A complete list of statistics from the event can be found at www.hockeycanada.ca, click on World U-17 icon.

The ten-team World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which runs Dec. 29-Jan.4, 2004, featured five Canadian regional teams. Team Pacific (made up of players from British Columbia, North West Territories, Yukon and Alberta), Team Western (made up of players from Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Manitoba), Team Atlantic (made of players from Newfoundland, Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia), and Team Ontario and Team Quebec are made up of players from their respective provinces. The five international teams are representing the United States, Slovakia, Russia, Finland, and Germany.

The World Under-17 Challenge is the first step in Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence for the five Canadian regional teams, which identifies coaches and players for Canada's Under-18 and World Junior Championship teams. 20 of Canada's 22 players at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship played at previous Under-17 events.