# Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament

The 1998 Olympic women's ice hockey tournament was the first year that featured women in ice hockey competition. It was anticipated that the women's gold medal match would feature Canada versus the United States. Canada was favored to come out on top as they had won all the competitions in previous years in women's hockey, with the United States perpetually finishing second, while no other national teams could match their level of play. However, the United States beat Canada in the final and became the first country to win gold in women's ice hockey at the Olympics.
Petra Vaarakallio scored the first-ever goal in women's ice hockey at the Olympics in 1998. She had won bronze at the 1992 World Ringette Championships but stopped playing ringette after receiving a six-month suspension for kicking an opponent who was lying on the ice.
There were no qualification tournaments, the host Japan played alongside the top five nations at the previous season's World Championships.

## Preliminary round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 7 | +26 | 10 | Gold medal game |
| 2 | Canada | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 12 | +16 | 8 | Gold medal game |
| 3 | Finland | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 10 | +17 | 6 | Bronze medal game |
| 4 | China | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 4 | Bronze medal game |
| 5 | Sweden | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 21 | −11 | 2 | |
| 6 | Japan (H) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 45 | −43 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+9).

## Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Women's tournament | United States Alana Blahoski A. J. Mleczko Angela Ruggiero Cammi Granato (C) Chris Bailey Colleen Coyne Lisa Brown-Miller Gretchen Ulion Jenny Schmidgall Karyn Bye (A) Katie King Laurie Baker Tricia Dunn Sandra Whyte Sara DeCosta (G) Sarah Tueting (G) Shelley Looney Sue Merz Tara Mounsey Vicki Movsessian Head coach: Ben Smith | Canada Becky Kellar Cassie Campbell Danielle Goyette Fiona Smith France Saint-Louis Geraldine Heaney Hayley Wickenheiser Jayna Hefford Jennifer Botterill Judy Diduck Karen Nystrom Kathy McCormack Laura Schuler Lesley Reddon (G) Lori Dupuis Manon Rhéaume (G) Nancy Drolet Stacy Wilson (C) Thérèse Brisson (A) Vicky Sunohara Head coach: Shannon Miller | Finland Emma Terho Riikka Nieminen (A) Johanna Ikonen Karoliina Rantamäki Katja Riipi Katja Lehto Kirsi Hänninen (A) Liisa-Maria Sneck (G) Maria Selin Marianne Ihalainen (C) Marika Lehtimäki Marja-Helena Pälvilä Päivi Salo Petra Vaarakallio Sanna Lankosaari Sari Fisk Sari Krooks Satu Huotari Tiia Reima Tuula Puputti (G) Head coach: Rauno Korpi |

## Final rankings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| | United States | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 8 | +28 | 12 |
| | Canada | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 8 |
| | Finland | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 11 | +20 | 8 |
| 4 | China | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 4 |
| 5 | Sweden | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 21 | −11 | 2 |
| 6 | Japan (H) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 45 | −43 | 0 |

## Statistics
### Scoring leaders

List shows the top ten skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Riikka Nieminen | 6 | 7 | 5 | 12 | +14 | 4 | F |
| Danielle Goyette | 6 | 8 | 1 | 9 | +10 | 10 | F |
| Karyn Bye | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +4 | 4 | F |
| Cammi Granato | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +2 | 0 | F |
| Katie King | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +10 | 2 | F |
| Gretchen Ulion | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Hayley Wickenheiser | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | +7 | 4 | F |
| Thérèse Brisson | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | +5 | 6 | D |
| Laurie Baker | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | +10 | 6 | F |
| Kirsi Hänninen | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | +13 | 6 | D |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: eurohockey.com

### 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 | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Sarah Tueting | 210 | 4 | 64 | 93.75 | 1 |
| Manon Rhéaume | 208 | 4 | 54 | 92.59 | 1 |
| Charlotte Göthesson | 120 | 5 | 53 | 90.57 | 1 |
| Tuula Puputti | 271 | 7 | 67 | 89.55 | 1 |
| Guo Hong | 350 | 16 | 150 | 89.33 | 0 |
TOI = Time on ice (minutes); GA = Goals against; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts