2018 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament in ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held in Gangneung, South Korea between 10 and 22 February 2018. Eight countries qualified for the tournament; five of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, one, South Korea, automatically qualified as hosts, while the two others took part in a qualification tournament. Under a special agreement with the IOC and the IIHF, twelve North Korean players joined the host team to form a united team. They were allowed to have an expanded roster of 35 where 22 players dress for each game. Three North Korean players were selected for each game by coach Sarah Murray.
The United States winning the gold medal game against Canada marks the first time in 20 years that the United States took home a gold medal in women's hockey. They previously won in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, which was also against Canada. Canada's loss ended their winning streak of four consecutive winter games, having won since 2002.
==Qualification==
Canada and the United States assured themselves of top four ranking after the 2016 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships by the end of the 2015 Championships and qualified for the A group.
Finland, Russia, and Sweden qualified by their ranking after the 2016 Championships.
South Korea qualified as the host team. The remaining two teams qualified from qualification tournaments.
==Format==
The top four teams based on the 2016 IIHF World Ranking, the United States, Canada, Finland and Olympic Athletes from Russia, compete in Group A, while the remaining four teams compete in Group B. The top two teams in Group A received a bye to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, the third placed team in Group A played the second place team in Group B, while the fourth placed team in Group A played the first place team in Group B. The winners advanced to the semifinals, while the two losers, and the third and fourth placed teams in Group B, competed in a classification bracket for places five through eight.
==Match officials==
10 referees and 9 linesmen were selected for the tournament.
;Referees
* Gabrielle Ariano-Lortie
* Nicole Hertrich
* Aina Hove
* Drahomira Fialova
* Nikoleta Celárová
* Gabriella Gran
* Katarina Timglas
* Dina Allen
* Katie Guay
* Melissa Szkola
;Linesmen
* Justine Todd
* Zuzana Svobodová
* Jenni Heikkinen
* Johanna Tauriainen
* Charlotte Girard-Fabre
* Lisa Linnek
* Nataša Pagon
* Veronica Johansson
* Jessica Leclerc
==Preliminary round==
===Group A===
Pos	Team 	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification
1 	 	3 	3	0 	0 	0	11	2 	9 	9 	Semifinals
2 	 	3 	2	0 	0 	1	9 	3 	6 	6 	Semifinals
3 	 	3 	1	0 	0 	2	7 	8 	−1 	3 	Quarterfinals
4 	Olympic Athletes from Russia	3 	0	0 	0 	3	1 	15	−14	0 	Quarterfinals
 
 
 
 
 
===Group B===
Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification
1 	 	3 	3	0 	0 	0	13	2 	11 	9 	Quarterfinals
2 	 	3 	2	0 	0 	1	11	3 	8 	6 	Quarterfinals
3 	 	3 	1	0 	0 	2	6 	6 	0 	3 	Classification
4 	(H) 	3 	0	0 	0 	3	1 	20	−19	0 	Classification
 
 
 
 
==Playoff round==
===Quarterfinals===
The top two teams in Group A received byes and were deemed the home team in the semifinals as they were seeded to advance.
 
 
===5–8th place semifinals===
 
 
===Semifinals===
 
===Seventh place game===
 
===Fifth place game===
 
===Bronze medal game===
===Gold medal game===
 
==References==
==External links==
*Official IIHF website
Category:Ice hockey at the Olympic Games
Category:2018 in ice hockey