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. There were no qualification tournaments. The top five nations at the previous season's world championships were entered, along with host nation Japan. Preliminary round. "All times are local (UTC+9)." Statistics. Scoring leaders. List shows the top ten 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.