Finland's Jenni Hiirikoski #6 takes a shot during the Finland vs Switzerland Quarterfinal Round action at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship at Adirondack Bank Center on April 11, 2024 in Utica, New York, USA.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
As the world’s best women from the top ten, hockey-playing nations get ready for the 24th edition of the Women’s World Championship next month in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia, let’s take a look at some of the stories worth following by the numbers.
This will be the first time the Czechs have hosted the WW. They have hosted the Women’s U18 Worlds twice, both times in Zlin/Prerov (2012, 2017).
The host city, Ceske Budejovice, has hosted an IIHF event only once previously—14 games at the 2005 WM18.
The Czechs have won two bronze medals in WW play, in 2022 and 2023, and lost their bid for a third in a row last year when they lost to Finland 3-2 in a penalty-shot shootout.
All previous gold and silver medals have been won by Canada (13) and the United States (10), with the exception of Finland, which won silver in 2019. Six teams have won bronze—Finland (14), Sweden (2), Czechia (2), Canada (1), Switzerland (1), and Russia (2).
The ten teams will be divided into two groups of five teams in a vertical structure, meaning the top five teams will be in Group A and the lower five in Group B. All five Group A teams qualify for the quarter-finals as well as the top three from Group B. The bottom two teams from Group B automatically will be demoted to Division I-A for 2026. In all, 29 games are scheduled.
The only teams to play in all 24 WW tournaments are Canada, Finland, and the United States. The Finns have played more games than any other nation—131—while the two North American teams have won the most games (105 each). Japan needs seven goals to reach 100 in their WW history, while the Americans need six to reach 800.
Every game that Canada wins in Czechia will extend the coaching record of Troy Ryan. His 25 wins is most ever, as are his three WW gold medals.
Two players to watch in particular are Finland’s Jenni Hiirikoski and American Hilary Knight. Both are slated to be in Ceske Budejovice, and both are team captains. They will improve on their various records that look evermore out of reach from the competition.
Hiirikoski holds the record for most WW tournaments at 16, so as soon as she steps on the ice in Ceske Budejovice she will extend that record to an incredible 17. She has also played more games than any other woman, 96, and, if all goes according to plan, the team’s final game of the round robin will be her 100th, an incredible achievement that might never be equalled.
Knight is also in a class of her own on many fronts. She’ll be playing in her 15th Women’s Worlds and has two notable records for team achievement—most medals, 14, and most goal medals, nine. All things being equal, at least one of those numbers will increase.
But Knight is also the all-time leader in points (111) and goals (65), so any time she gets on the scoresheet she will add to those records. She is also chasing the third part of those records—most career assists. The current record is held by Hayley Wickenheiser (49), but Knight is hot on her trail with 46, as is teammate Kendall Coyne Schofield (47) and Hiirikoski (45).
Coyne Schofield and Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin are expected to be in Czechia and are also expected to climb the points list. Second to Knight is Wickenheiser, with 86, followed by the retired Jayna Hefford (CAN, 83) and Cammi Granato (USA, 78). After that comes Poulin (77) and Coyne Schofield (76). Both players will surely pass Granato and head towards the rare air of Hefford and Wickenheiser.
This will be the first time the Czechs have hosted the WW. They have hosted the Women’s U18 Worlds twice, both times in Zlin/Prerov (2012, 2017).
The host city, Ceske Budejovice, has hosted an IIHF event only once previously—14 games at the 2005 WM18.
The Czechs have won two bronze medals in WW play, in 2022 and 2023, and lost their bid for a third in a row last year when they lost to Finland 3-2 in a penalty-shot shootout.
All previous gold and silver medals have been won by Canada (13) and the United States (10), with the exception of Finland, which won silver in 2019. Six teams have won bronze—Finland (14), Sweden (2), Czechia (2), Canada (1), Switzerland (1), and Russia (2).
The ten teams will be divided into two groups of five teams in a vertical structure, meaning the top five teams will be in Group A and the lower five in Group B. All five Group A teams qualify for the quarter-finals as well as the top three from Group B. The bottom two teams from Group B automatically will be demoted to Division I-A for 2026. In all, 29 games are scheduled.
The only teams to play in all 24 WW tournaments are Canada, Finland, and the United States. The Finns have played more games than any other nation—131—while the two North American teams have won the most games (105 each). Japan needs seven goals to reach 100 in their WW history, while the Americans need six to reach 800.
Every game that Canada wins in Czechia will extend the coaching record of Troy Ryan. His 25 wins is most ever, as are his three WW gold medals.
Two players to watch in particular are Finland’s Jenni Hiirikoski and American Hilary Knight. Both are slated to be in Ceske Budejovice, and both are team captains. They will improve on their various records that look evermore out of reach from the competition.
Hiirikoski holds the record for most WW tournaments at 16, so as soon as she steps on the ice in Ceske Budejovice she will extend that record to an incredible 17. She has also played more games than any other woman, 96, and, if all goes according to plan, the team’s final game of the round robin will be her 100th, an incredible achievement that might never be equalled.
Knight is also in a class of her own on many fronts. She’ll be playing in her 15th Women’s Worlds and has two notable records for team achievement—most medals, 14, and most goal medals, nine. All things being equal, at least one of those numbers will increase.
But Knight is also the all-time leader in points (111) and goals (65), so any time she gets on the scoresheet she will add to those records. She is also chasing the third part of those records—most career assists. The current record is held by Hayley Wickenheiser (49), but Knight is hot on her trail with 46, as is teammate Kendall Coyne Schofield (47) and Hiirikoski (45).
Coyne Schofield and Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin are expected to be in Czechia and are also expected to climb the points list. Second to Knight is Wickenheiser, with 86, followed by the retired Jayna Hefford (CAN, 83) and Cammi Granato (USA, 78). After that comes Poulin (77) and Coyne Schofield (76). Both players will surely pass Granato and head towards the rare air of Hefford and Wickenheiser.