A huge thank you to Slapshot67 for doing all the work to make this look presentable.
1977 - the year of Star Wars, The Clash, the Atari 2600 and the first officially IIHF sanctioned World Junior Championships. Following three unofficial tournaments, the IIHF recognized the relatively obscure event which has become one of international hockey's signature events and the first time on stage for many of the NHL's future stars. The round-robin series was hosted in Banska Bystrica and Zvolen, Czechoslovakia to modest crowds.
The Soviet Union swept the field to win the gold medal and remained undefeated through four years of competition. The Soviet team featured future Hall of Famers Sergei Makarov and Viacheslav Fetisov in addition to goaltender Sergei Mylnikov, who later became the first Russian goaltender in the NHL - albeit for 10 horrible games with the Nordiques.
Canada won silver, however were not represented by a true national team but by the St. Catharines Fincups, winners of the previous year's Memorial Cup. The Fincups roster was supplemented with players from several other OHA teams. Of the 19 members of the Canadian squad, 17 would eventually appear in the NHL with Brad Marsh, Rob Ramage, Ron Duguay, Dave Hunter, John Anderson, Al Secord, Ric Seiling, Willie Huber, Dwight Foster and tournament leading scorer Dale McCourt all logging over 500 contests.
Czechoslovakia took the bronze and featured Peter Ihnacak, who would later defect to play for the Maple Leafs, and three-time Stanley Cup winner Jiri Hrdina.
Team Finland would eventually send a pair of blue liners to the NHL in Risto Siltanen and Reijo Ruotsalainen. Sweden was backstopped by future Flyer Pelle Lindbergh and also included NHLers Mats Naslund and Bengt-Ake Gustafsson.
The American squad contained 9 players that would make it to the NHL. Only one, Richie Dunn, would have a significant career (483 games) and 5 of the 9 would play fewer than 10 games.
West Germany and Poland were added to the tournament in 1977 for the first time. Neither roster included any future NHL talent, although the West Germans would finish ahead of the Americans in the standings. The Poles lone point came in a tie contest against the USA and they would be relegated for the 1978 edition of the WJC.
Speaking of 1978, this would be the debut of some guy named Wayne...
Thanks again to Slapshot67 and to all of the others who have posted their knowledge and already asked the stupid questions so that I didn't have to...
1977 WJC - Zvolen.bin