The IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship is the premier international tournament in Women's ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation

International Ice Hockey Federation

The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...

 (IIHF).

The official world competition was first held in 1990. In 1995 and 1996, in lieu of the world championship, the IIHF Pacific Rim Women's Hockey Championship or European Championships were held. Until 2010, the tournament was not held in Olympic years. However, as part of an effort to improve competition, the IIHF decided to hold Women's Championships in Olympic years, starting in 2014.

Tournaments

Year	Host City	Final			Third Place Match
		Champion	Score	Second Place	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1990	Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...		5–2			6–3
1992	Tampere Tampere Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...		8–0			5–4
1994	Lake Placid Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....		6–3			8–1
1997	Kitchener Kitchener, Ontario The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...		4–3 (OT)			3–0
1999	Espoo Espoo Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....  & Vantaa Vantaa Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.Vantaa, with its population of , is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there...		3–1			8–2
2000	Mississauga Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga is a city in Southern Ontario located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, and in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. With an estimated population of 734,000, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades...		3–2 (OT)			7–1
2001 2001 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2001 IIHF World Women's Championships was held April 2 – April 8, 2001 in six cities in the state of Minnesota. Team Canada won their seventh consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States in a repeat of the previous six finals.-Teams:With the promotion and...	Minneapolis Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...		3–2			2–1
2003 2003 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2003 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships was set to be held in Beijing, China from March 4 to 9th, 2003. However, it was cancelled due to the SARS crisis...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...	Cancelled due to SARS outbreak in China
2004 2004 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2004 IIHF World Women's Championships were held March 30-April 6, 2004 in Halifax and Dartmouth, Canada. The Canadian national women's hockey team won their eighth straight World Championships...	Halifax & Dartmouth Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...		2–0			3–2
2005 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2005 IIHF World Women's Championships was held April 2–9, 2005, in Linköping, at Cloetta Center, and Norrköping, at Himmelstalundshallen, in Sweden. USA won their first ever gold medal at the World Championships, defeating the defending champions Canada in a penalty shootout...	Linköping Linköping Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...  & Norrköping Norrköping Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...		1–0 (SO)			5–2
2007 2007 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2007 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships were held between April 3, 2007 and April 10, 2007 in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. There were no championships in 2006 due to the Torino Olympic tournament...	Winnipeg Winnipeg Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...  & Selkirk Selkirk, Manitoba Selkirk is a city in the western Canadian province of Manitoba, located about 22 km northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg on the Red River, near . As of the 2006 census, Selkirk had a population of 9,515....		5–1			1–0
2008 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships were held from April 4 to April 13, 2008, in Harbin, People's Republic of China.It was the 11th event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation ....	Harbin Harbin Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...		4–3			4–1
2009 2009 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships -Group B:All times are local .-Group C:All times are local .-Group D :All times are local . and advance to the final...	Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Häme in the south of Finland and is the birthplace of composer Jean Sibelius. Today, it belongs to the region of Tavastia Proper, and until 2010 it was the residence city for the Governor of the...		4–1			4–1
2011 2011 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships -Group B:-Relegation series:Best of three.All times local - Final round :-Quarterfinals:-Semifinals:-5th place playoff:-Bronze medal game:-Gold medal game:-Scoring leaders:...	Zürich Zürich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...  & Winterthur Winterthur Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...		3–2 (OT)			3–2 (OT)
2012	Burlington Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
2013	Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

Medal Table

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Medals
	9	4	0	13
	4	9	0	13
	0	0	10	10
	0	0	2	2
	0	0	1	1

Awards

Main article: List of IIHF Women's World Championship Directorate award winners

At most IIHF events, the tournament directorate awards the best forward, best defenceman, best goaltender and most valuable player of each tournament. at the women's event, these awards have been handed out in some combination since the first tournament, with the exception of 1997, and the cancelled tournament in 2003.

See also

• 4 Nations Cup
  4 Nations Cup
  The 4 Nations Cup is an annual women's ice hockey tournament, held between four major national teams in the sport; currently, these are Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. Until 2000, when Sweden joined, the tournament was the 3 Nations Cup. In general, it is held in or around November...
  
  
• Pacific Rim Championships
• Ice hockey at the Olympic Games
  Ice hockey at the Olympic Games
  Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games programme in 1924. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics...
  
  

External links/Sources

• The Women's Hockey Web
• Müller, Stephan : International Ice Hockey Encyclopedia 1904–2005 / BoD GmbH Norderstedt, 2005 ISBN 3-8334-4189-5