# 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which was contested in Calgary, Alberta, from 20 to 31 August 2021, at WinSport Arena. It was originally scheduled to be contested in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was the 20th edition of the IIHF Women's World Championship Top Division tournament.
No divisional promotion and relegation occurred after this tournament as the Division I tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 Hockey Canada 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 René Fasel 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 Canada Olympic Park 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

$^1$ Pursuant to a December 2020 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport 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[s]." For IIHF tournaments, the Russian team will use the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and play under the name "ROC".
$^2$ No divisional promotion and relegation occurred from 2020 as most tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Rosters

Each team's roster must comprised a minimum of fifteen skaters (forwards and defencemen) and two goaltenders, 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 [from the standard 20 skaters and 3 goaltenders] to 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.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Cianna Lieffers Elizabeth Mantha Shauna Neary Lacey Senuk Anniina Nurmi Daria Ermak Maria Furberg Anna Wiegand Kelly Cooke Chelsea Rapin Jestina Vichorek Mackenzie Welter | Julia Kainberger Alexandra Blair Jessica Chartrand Justine Todd Jenni Heikkinen Diana Mokhova Anna Hammar Kendall Hanley Jacqueline Spresser Sara Strong |

## Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC−6).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Canada (H) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 | +15 | 12 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | United States | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 9 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Finland | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 6 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | ROC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 3 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Switzerland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 17 | −16 | 0 | Quarterfinals |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Czech Republic | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 3 | +13 | 12 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Japan | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 9 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Germany | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Hungary | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated |
| 5 | Denmark | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 0 | Eliminated |
* 1 2 No divisional relegation occurred after this tournament as the Division I tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Knockout stage
### Bracket

There was a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.
| Rank | Team | Grp | Pos | Pts | GD | GF | Seed |
| 1 | Canada | A | 1 | 12 | +15 | 20 | 1 |
| 2 | United States | A | 2 | 9 | +8 | 13 | 2 |
| 3 | Finland | A | 3 | 6 | +5 | 13 | 3 |
| 4 | ROC | A | 4 | 3 | −12 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Switzerland | A | 5 | 0 | −16 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 | Czech Republic | B | 1 | 12 | +13 | 16 | 7 |
| 7 | Japan | B | 2 | 9 | +1 | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | Germany | B | 3 | 6 | +2 | 7 | 8 |
| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 28 August | 28 August | | | |
| Canada | 7 | | | |
| Canada | 7 | 30 August | 30 August | | |
| Germany | 0 | 30 August | 30 August | |
| Germany | 0 | Canada | 4 | |
| 28 August | 28 August | | Canada | 4 | |
| 28 August | 28 August | Switzerland | 0 | |
| United States | 10 | Switzerland | 0 | |
| United States | 10 | | | | 31 August | 31 August |
| Japan | 2 | | | | 31 August | 31 August |
| Japan | 2 | | | | Canada (OT) | 3 |
| 28 August | 28 August | | | | | Canada (OT) | 3 |
| 28 August | 28 August | | | | United States | 2 |
| Finland | 1 | | | | United States | 2 |
| Finland | 1 | 30 August | 30 August | | | |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 30 August | 30 August | | | |
| Czech Republic | 0 | United States | 3 | | | |
| 28 August | 28 August | | United States | 3 | | | |
| 28 August | 28 August | Finland | 0 | | Third place | Third place |
| ROC | 2 | Finland | 0 | | Third place | Third place |
| ROC | 2 | | | | 31 August | 31 August |
| Switzerland (OT) | 3 | | | | 31 August | 31 August |
| Switzerland (OT) | 3 | | | | Finland | 3 |
| | | | | | Switzerland | 1 |

### Final
## Final standings

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | A | Canada (H) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 7 | +27 | 20 | Champions |
| 2 | A | United States | 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 10 | +18 | 16 | Runners-up |
| 3 | A | Finland | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 12 | Third place |
| 4 | A | Switzerland | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 26 | −21 | 2 | Fourth place |
| 5 | A | ROC | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 21 | −10 | 10 | Fifth place game |
| 6 | B | Japan | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 20 | −8 | 12 | Fifth place game |
| 7 | B | Czech Republic | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 7 | +11 | 12 | |
| 8 | B | Germany | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 15 | −6 | 6 | |
| 9 | B | Hungary | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in Preliminary round |
| 10 | B | Denmark | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 0 | Eliminated in Preliminary round |
No divisional relegation occurred after this tournament as the Division I tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Awards and statistics
### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Anni Keisala |
| Defenceman | Lee Stecklein |
| Forward | Mélodie Daoust |
| MVP | Mélodie Daoust |
| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Anni Keisala |
| Defenceman | Lee Stecklein |
| Defenceman | Erin Ambrose |
| Forward | Mélodie Daoust |
| Forward | Petra Nieminen |
| Forward | Natalie Spooner |

### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Mélodie Daoust | 7 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +13 | 0 | F |
| Brianne Jenner | 6 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +13 | 4 | F |
| Natalie Spooner | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | +11 | 0 | F |
| Marie-Philip Poulin | 6 | 3 | 6 | 9 | +10 | 2 | F |
| Petra Nieminen | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | +3 | 0 | F |
| Alena Mills | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | +2 | 4 | F |
| Lee Stecklein | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +12 | 0 | D |
| Hilary Knight | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Grace Zumwinkle | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +5 | 2 | F |
| Sarah Fillier | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +6 | 6 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF

### 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.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Jennifer Harß | 180:00 | 3 | 1.00 | 62 | 95.16 | 1 |
| Anni Keisala | 294:09 | 7 | 1.43 | 136 | 94.85 | 2 |
| Saskia Maurer | 214:03 | 7 | 1.96 | 120 | 94.17 | 0 |
| Nicole Hensley | 240:06 | 4 | 1.00 | 65 | 93.85 | 2 |
| Klára Peslarová | 358:14 | 7 | 1.17 | 105 | 93.33 | 2 |
TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF