2017 IIHF Women's World Championship
The 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was held in Plymouth Township, Michigan, United States from 31 March to 7 April 2017. The United States defeated Canada in the gold medal game 3–2 after overtime, winning their eighth title. Finland won the bronze medal by beating Germany 8–0. Match officials. 10 referees and 9 linesmen were selected for the tournament. Rosters. Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most  20 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All eight participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" roster no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament. Preliminary round. "All times are local (UTC−4)." Relegation round. The third and fourth placed team from Group B played a best-of-three series to determine the relegated team. The IIHF opted to expand the World Championship to ten teams starting in 2019, so no team was relegated after all. Switzerland won series  2–1 Statistics. Scoring leaders. List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. 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. Threatened boycott by US players. On 15 March 2017, the U.S. team announced that unless concessions were made by USA Hockey, they would boycott the World Championship to protest inequitable support and conditions for women's hockey. The players were publicly supported by the players' associations for the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, and the NHL. After several days of  stalled negotiations and attempts to field a team of non-boycotting players, causing concern over such a team being competitive, an agreement was struck with USA Hockey to increase player pay and support for women's development; the original players immediately agreed to play in the World Championship.