The 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship was held in Espoo, Finland, and featured the world’s top 10 teams.
The United States claimed their fifth World Championship gold medal in a row (and their ninth overall) with a 2-1 shootout win over Finland in the final game. Finland’s silver medal was historic, with the country beating Canada in the semifinals to earn their spot in the final. This marks the first time in the history of the event that the final has not featured Canada against the United States.
However, the hot topic following the final game was Finland’s disallowed overtime goal, which would have awarded them the gold medal. While the home nation believed that they had captured gold after Petra Nieminen scored at 11:33 of overtime, a lengthy video review deemed the goal illegal. The United States would go on to win in the shootout, scoring two goals to Finland’s one.
Additional angles including overhead of Finland's disallowed goal pic.twitter.com/S8KGZFQaus
— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) April 14, 2019
With Canada not getting an opportunity to play for the top of the podium, they instead settled for bronze, which they secured with a dominant 7-0 win over Russia in the third place game.
The United States, Finland, Canada and Russia all competed in Group A play during the preliminary round, along with Switzerland, who finished last in the group and lost to Russia in the quarterfinals.
Group B was led by the Czech Republic, who went undefeated until falling to Finland in the quarterfinals. They were followed in the standings by Germany and Japan, who also lost their respective quarterfinals against Canada and the United States.
Sweden surprisingly has been relegated for the first time in event history after winning just one preliminary round game. France has also been relegated. The two nations faced each other in the ninth place game, with Sweden winning 3-2.
Final Standings
1. USA
2. Finland
3. Canada
4. Russia
5. Switzerland
6. Czech Republic
7. Germany
8. Japan
9. Sweden
10. France
Player Awards
Top Goaltender: Noora Räty (Finland)
Top Defenceman: Jenni Hiirikoski (Finland)
Top Forward: Kendall Coyne Schofield (USA)
Most Valuable Player: Jenni Hiirikoski (Finland)
All-Star Team: Noora Räty (Finland), Jenni Hiirikoski (Finland), Cayla Barnes (USA), Hilary Knight (USA), Kendall Coyne Schofield (USA), Michelle Karvinen (Finland)
Statistics
Top 3 Scorers
Hilary Knight (USA): 7 goals, 4 assists, 11 points
Natalie Spooner (Canada): 6 goals, 4 assists, 10 points
Jenni Hiirikoski (Finland): 2 goals, 8 assists, 10 points
Top 3 Goal Scorers
Hilary Knight (USA): 7 goals
Loren Gabel (Canada): 6 goals
Natalie Spooner (Canada): 6 goals
Top 3 Goaltenders
Alex Rigsby (USA): 95.28 SV%, 0.94 GAA
Noora Räty (Finland): 93.66 SV%, 2.20 GAA
Jennifer Harss (Germany): 93.53 SV%, 2.67 GAA
The 2020 IIHF Women’s World Championship
Next year’s Women’s World Championship will be held in Halifax and Truro in Nova Scotia in April. Nova Scotia last hosted the Women’s Worlds in 2004, and the 2020 event will be the second in a row to feature 10 teams. Hungary and Denmark will be competing in place of Sweden and France.
