The 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

tournament organized by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF), which was contested in

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Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, from 20 to 31 August 2021, at WinSport Arena. It was originally scheduled to be contested in Halifax and

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It was the 20th edition of the IIHF Women's World Championship Top Division tournament. No divisional

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

occurred after this tournament as the Division I tournament was cancelled due to the

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. Originally scheduled from 7 to 17 April, the tournament was postponed to 6 to 16 May 2021 on 4 March. On 21 April 2021, the Province of Nova Scotia informed

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and the IIHF that the tournament had been cancelled at the recommendation of Premier Iain Rankin "due to concerns over safety risks associated with COVID-19." The IIHF and Hockey Canada released a joint statement pledging to explore all avenues for hosting the event in a different Canadian city during the summer of 2021. IIHF President

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emphasized, "This does not mean that we will not have a Women's World Championship in 2021. We owe it to every single player that was looking forward to getting back on the ice after such a difficult year that we do everything possible to ensure this tournament can be moved to new dates and played this year." On 30 April 2021, the IIHF announced that the tournament would take place between 20 and 31 August 2021. On 2 June 2021, the venue was identified as WinSport Arena at

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in Calgary. The tournament was played behind closed doors. Canada won the tournament for the record-extending eleventh time after defeating the United States in the final 3-2 in overtime. Finland captured bronze, by winning against Switzerland.

Participating teams

;Group A * * ''Hosts'' * *¹ * ;Group B * * * * – ''Promoted from Division I Group A in 2019'' ² * – ''Promoted from Division I Group A in 2019'' ² ¹ Pursuant to a December 2020 ruling by the

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on doping sanctions, Russian athletes and teams are prohibited from competing under the Russian flag or using the Russian national anthem at any Olympic Games or world championships through 16 December 2022, and must compete as "neutral athlete " For IIHF tournaments, the Russian team will use the logo of the

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(ROC) and play under the name "ROC". ² No divisional

occurred from

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

as most tournaments were cancelled due to the

Rosters

Each team's roster must comprised a minimum of fifteen skaters ( forwards and defencemen) and two

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

s, and "due to the special situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and safety rules including no players being allowed to join late, the roster size for the tournament was exceptionally increased rom the standard 20 skaters and 3 goaltendersto 25 players." All ten participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, were required to submit a "Long List" roster no later than two weeks before the start of the tournament. Final rosters will be submitted on 20 August 2021, one day before the tournament begins, but as no players can be added after arriving in Canada, rosters were effectively set when teams landed in Calgary on 11 August 2021.

Match officials

Twelve referees and ten linesmen were selected for the tournament.

Preliminary round

''All times are local ( UTC−6).''

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

Bracket

There was a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals

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5th–8th place placement games

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Semifinals

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Fifth place game

Third place game

Final

Final standings

No divisional relegation occurred after this tournament as the Division I tournament was cancelled due to the

Awards and statistics

Awards

Best player selected by the Directorate All-Star team

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position''
Source
IIHF
/small>

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list. ''TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

; Sv% = Save percentage; SO =

Shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s''
Source
IIHF
/small>

References

External links

Official website of IIHF
{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 IIHF Women's World Championship IIHF Women's World Championship 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship IIHF Women's World Championship IIHF Women's

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey tourn ...

IIHF Women's World Championship