1999 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships

The 1999 IIHF World Women Championships was held between March 8-March 14, 1999 in the city of Espoo in Finland. Team Canada won their 5th consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States in a repeat of the previous four finals. Canada skated to a solid 3-1 victory in the final to take the gold with a solid performance that saw them winning all five games.
Finland picked up their fifth consecutive bronze medal, with a win over Sweden who had their strongest performance since 1992.
==1999 Qualification Tournament==
The 1999 tournament created the format that has remained to the present, as the World Championships was greatly expanded to incorporate the European Championships and the Pacific Qualification Tournaments and there were a series of Qualification Tournaments Held to assign teams places in this first year, with the standard Promotion and Relegation model following after that.
* - Qualified as 2nd in 1998 Olympic Games
* - Qualified as 4th in 1998 Olympic Games
* - Qualified as 3rd in 1998 Olympic Games
* - Qualified as 1st in 1999 World Championship Qualification
* - Qualified as 3rd in 1999 World Championship Qualification
* - Qualified as 2nd in 1999 World Championship Qualification
* - Qualified as 5th in 1998 Olympic Games
* - Qualified as 1st in 1998 Olympic Games
===First Qualification Tournament===
    	Teams proceed to Final Qualification Tournament
    	Teams play in 1999 World Championship Group B
====Standings====
Rk.	Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	DIF	PTS
1. 	 	3 	3	0	0	17	6 	+11	6
2. 	 	3 	2	0	1	12	16	+6 	4
3. 	 	3 	0	1	2	7 	10	-3 	2
4. 	 	3 	0	0	3	3 	17	-14	0
Czech Republic and France advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament. Slovakia and Netherlands qualified for Group B.
====Results====
===Final Qualification Tournament===
    	Team qualified for 1999 World Championship.
    	Teams advanced to Playoff
    	Teams qualified for 1999 World Championship Group B
===Group A===
====Standings====
Rk.	Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	DIF	PTS
1. 	 	3 	3	0	0	26	1 	+25	6
2. 	 	3 	2	0	1	18	7 	+11	4
3. 	 	3 	0	1	2	3 	25	-22	2
4. 	 	3 	0	0	3	3 	17	-14	0
Germany qualified for the World Championship. Russia advanced to the Playoff. France and Denmark qualified for Group B.
====Results====
===Group B===
====Standings====
Rk.	Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	DIF	PTS
1. 	 	3 	3	0	0	16	2 	+14	6
2. 	 	3 	1	1	1	9 	9 	+0 	4
3. 	 	3 	1	1	1	4 	6 	-2 	2
4. 	 	3 	0	0	3	2 	14	-12	0
Suitzerland qualified for the World Championship. Norway advanced to the Playoff. Czech Republic and Latvia qualified for Group B.
====Results====
===Playoff===
The playoff was held two days after the main tournaments were finished in the town of Zuchwil in Switzerland
Russia qualified for the World Championship. Norway qualified for Group B.
==World Championship Group A==
The eight participating teams were divided up into two seeded groups as below. The teams played each other once in a single round robin format. The top two teams from the group proceeded to the Final Round, while the remaining teams played in the Consolation Round.
==First Round==
    	Teams proceed to Final round
    	Teams sent to Consolation round
===Group A===
====Standings====
Rk.	Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	DIF	PTS
1. 	 	3 	3	0	0	27	2 	+20	6
2. 	 	3 	2	0	1	10	12	-2 	4
3. 	 	3 	0	1	2	4 	11	-7 	2
4. 	 	3 	0	1	2	2 	20	-18	0
====Results====
All times local
===Group B===
====Standings====
Rk.	Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	DIF	PTS
1. 	 	3 	3	0	0	25	0 	+25	6
2. 	 	3 	2	0	1	16	1 	+15	4
3. 	 	3 	1	0	2	5 	26	-21	2
4. 	 	3 	0	0	3	4 	22	-18	0
====Results====
All times local
==Playoff Round==
===Consolation Round 5-8 Place===
===Consolation Round 7-8 Place===
===Consolation Round 5-6 Place===
===Final Round===
===Semifinals===
===Match for third place===
===Final===
==Champions==
==Final standings==
Rk.	Team	Notes
 	 	
 	 	
 	 	
4. 	 	
5. 	 	
6. 	 	
7. 	 	
8. 	 	Relegated to the 2000 World Championships Group B
==World Championship Group B==
In addition to the main World Championships, this year saw the first running of World Championship Group B, which replaced the European Championships. Eight further teams played in this competition, hosted by France in the town of Colmar. won the tournament defeating in the final 7-1 to win the competition and to ensure their Promotion to the main World Championship in 2000.
==Directorate Awards==
*Goalie: Sami Jo Small, (Canada)
*Defender: Kirsi Hanninen, (Finland)
*Forward: Jenny Schmigdall, (United States)Collins gem Hockey Facts and Stats 2009-10, p.542, Andrew Podnieks, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-1-55468-621-6
==References==
Category:IIHF Women's World Ice Hockey Championships
Category:1999 in hockey