2013 IIHF Women ' s World Championship The 2013 IIHF World Women ' s Championships was the 15th world championship sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation ( IIHF ) and was the last world championship before the 2014 Winter Olympics . Canada faced the United States for the gold medal for the 15th consecutive tournament ; The Americans won their fifth world title with a 3 – 2 win , while Russia defeated Finland , 2 – 0 , to win its second bronze medal in tournament history . The tournament was held at Ottawa , Canada , the site of the first Women ' s World Championship in 1990 . Organizers set a tournament record of over 150 , 000 tickets sold , and a preliminary round contest between Canada and Finland set an all - time attendance mark for a women ' s hockey game of 18 , 013 . Canada ' s Marie - Philip Poulin was named top forward and most valuable player after leading the tournament with 12 points . Finland ' s Jenni Hiirikoski was named top defenceman and Russia ' s Nadezhda Alexandrova was named top goaltender . Top Division . The Top Division of the world championship was contested between eight teams from April 2 to April 9 , 2013 in Ottawa , Canada . It was the second time the tournament was held in Canada ' s capital city as Ottawa hosted the inaugural Women ' s World Championship in 1990 . The women ' s game had undergone a considerable period of growth in the intervening 23 years ; the 1990 tournament was primarily played in small community arenas , but the majority of the 2013 event was held in the 20 , 000 seat Scotiabank Place arena . The host city set a tournament record by selling over 150 , 000 tickets for the tournament , but gate attendance fell short of the record of 119 , 231 set in 2007 . Such discrepancies are not ususual at IIHF events , where games are often sold in packages in order to boost attendance figures of less attractive fixtures . However , both actual attendance and ticket sales were below the ambitious pre - tournament objective of 200 , 000 spectators relayed to the media by the organizers . According to Hockey Canada , the announced crowd of 18 , 013 for the preliminary round game between Canada and Finland set an all - time record for a women ' s hockey game . A large component of the crowd was made up of female players competing in the Ontario Women ’ s Hockey Association provincial championships , which was scheduled to coincide with the Women ' s World Championship . The game surpassed the previous record of 16 , 347 , also set in Ottawa , for a pre - Olympic exhibition game in 2010 . Overnight data indicates that an average 795 , 000 viewers watched the Gold Medal game in Canada , making it the highest rated Women ' s World Championship final in TSN ' s history . Teams . The preliminary round was divided into two pools and introduced a new format that placed the top four seeds into Group A , and the bottom four in Group B . The top two finishers in Group A advanced directly to the semifinals , while the two remaining teams and the top two in Group B played a quarterfinal round . The change in format helped reduce the number of severely one - sided contests in a tournament praised by IIHF president René Fasel for its increasing competitiveness . Each teams roster for the 2013 IIHF Women ' s World Championship consists of at least 15 skaters ( forwards , and defencemen ) and 2 goaltender s , and at most 20 skaters and 3 goaltenders . All eight participating nations , through the confirmation of their respective national associations , had to submit a roster by the first IIHF directorate . Group A Group B Officials . The IIHF selected six referees and nine linesmen to work the 2013 IIHF Women ' s World Championship . They were the following : Tournament highlights . The opening night featured a match - up of the game ' s top powers , Canada and the United States . The contest ended with a 3 – 2 Canadian win , decided by a shootout , in what was viewed as a preview of the probable gold medal final . The Canadian team made headlines by wearing yellow and black uniforms in lieu of the team ' s usual red and white colors . This was part of a promotion for the Nike - backed Livestrong cancer awareness initiative , whose founder Lance Armstrong had confessed to doping a few months earlier . Nike hoped to attach the Livestrong brand to other athletes , and the jerseys were subsequently auctioned in support of the charity . Both teams easily won their remaining pool games , to earn byes to the semifinals . After failing to win a game in the 2012 tournament , Russia rebounded in 2013 by winning all of its pool games to lead Group B . It clinched first place with a 4 – 0 victory over Sweden , a nation that entered the tournament with high medal hopes but was instead forced to play a best - of - three series against the Czech Republic to avoid relegation . The Swedes , who will host the next tournament in 2015 , retained their position in the top division by winning the series against the Czechs by 2 – 1 ( SO ) and 4 – 0 scores . The Czech Republic , who were promoted from Division 1A for this tournament , were relegated back to the lower division . In the medal round , Germany joined Russia in reaching the quarterfinal round from Group B , while Finland and Switzerland qualified out of Group A . The Russians won their fourth consecutive game in the tournament by defeating the 2012 bronze medal - winning Switzerland team 2 – 1 to earn a semifinal game against Canada . Forty - year - old Yekaterina Pashkevich , the eldest player in the tournament , said that her nation ' s turnaround following a winless 2012 tournament could be attributed to increased " drive and motivation " in the country as a result of Russia hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics . In the second semifinal , Finland beat Germany 1 – 0 to earn a match - up with the United States . Goaltender Meeri Raisanen recorded the shutout after unexpectedly being named her team ' s starter in favour of Finland ' s number - one goaltender , Noora Raty . Russia ' s unbeaten run came to an end in the semifinals as they were routed by Canada , 8 – 1 . In a closer contest , the United States defeated Finland , 3 – 0 . The results set up the 15th consecutive gold medal match - up between the two North American rivals . In the bronze medal game , the Russians captured only their second medal in tournament history with a 2 – 0 victory over Finland . They earned the win on the goaltending of Nadezhda Alexandrova , who stopped all 32 shots she faced for the shutout . The United States defeated Canada , 3 – 2 to win its fifth world championship in seven years . The winning goal was scored by Amanda Kessel for the American team that outshot their opponents 30 – 16 . The goaltending of Shannon Szabados was credited with keeping Canada close as Americans used their speed advantage to overcome Canada ' s size and physical presence . Relegation series . " Best of three . " Ranking and statistics . Scoring leaders . List shows the top 10 skaters sorted by points , then goals . Leading goaltenders . Only the top five goaltenders , based on save percentage , who have played 40 % of their team ' s minutes are included in this list . Division I . The Division I competition was being held in two groups . Group A games were played from April 7 to April 13 , 2013 , in Stavanger , Norway , and Group B was being played from April 8 to April 14 , 2013 in Strasbourg or Rouen , France . Group A Group B Division II . The Division II competition was held in two groups . Group A games were played from April 8 to April 14 , 2013 in Auckland , New Zealand , and Group B was played in Puigcerdà , Spain . An additional qualification group was won by Turkey in December , 2012 in Izmir , Turkey . Group A Group B Group B Qualification