Next month’s IIHF Women’s World Championship in Ceske Budejovice is the last major international tournament before the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. As such, it’s something of a dress rehearsal for the eight teams who will play in both tournaments.

At the top end, it promises to be another renewal of the great USA vs Canada rivalry. In Europe, it’s a vital chance to measure the gap across the Atlantic and get more experience of competing with the top seeds. And for the likes of Japan, Sweden and Germany in Group B, this is an opportunity to learn what’s needed to secure at least a quarter-final spot at the Games.

With the rosters starting to take shape, here are a few narratives to watch for at the 2025 IIHF Women’s Worlds.


 

Door wide open for USA goalies

Ahead of the last major tournament before Milan, Team USA’s goalie stable has a grand total of zero games’ Olympic experience. The decision to scratch Nicole Hensley from John Wroblewski’s roster means none of the netminders who featured in Beijing 2022 are involved in Ceske Budejovice next month.

Hensley, active with the Minnesota Frost this season, could well play herself back into contention in time for the Games. However, the door now appears wide open for Aerin Frankel to assume the status of undisputed #1 for the Americans. That’s a role she’s fulfilled impressively at the last two Worlds, winning gold in 2023 and silver in 2024. Frankel, 25, is also enjoying a good season with Boston Fleet in the PWHL, where her SV% of .930 is second only to Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens (Montreal Victoire). Back-up in Czechia will come from 24-year-old Gwyneth Philips, an unused understudy last year, and World Championship rookie Ava McNaughton, a 20-year-old currently leading the rankings in the NCAA.

Canada seeks more break-out talent

In 2022, Canada’s golden roster featured two women who played their way into the team after debuting at the 2021 Worlds. Sarah Fillier was always on track to be a star, but defender Claire Thompson came from nowhere to finish as the top-scoring blue liner at the Games. Prior to 2021, she had never represented Canada at any level, yet she contributed 13 (2+11) points in Beijing and was named to the media select team.

In Ceske Budejovice there could be three World Championship rookies hoping to repeat Thompson’s journey. On defence, 24-year-old Sophie Jaques is in line for her IIHF tournament debut. Although the Toronto native never made a U18 national roster, she has since led Ohio State in scoring during its 2022 NCAA championship campaign. Last season she followed that up by helping Minnesota lift the inaugural PWHL Wilson Cup. This term she's vying for the PWHL scoring lead among defenders with 18 (4+14) points from 20 games.

Among the forwards, Jennifer Gardiner was on the U18 roster in 2019, playing four games for no points. She was also on that Ohio NCAA champion roster alongside Jaques, and her first international goal was the game-winner in the deciding game of this season’s Rivalry Series against the USA. And Daryl Watts is another prospect called up for this year’s Rivalry Series, where she had two goals in five games amid a productive season with Toronto in the PWHL.

Pathway for Czech prospects

Host nation Czechia has every cause for optimism both here and in Milan. The national women’s program achieved its greatest success to date last season when the U18s became only the second European country to win a silver medal – and several players are in with a great chance of moving seamlessly from U18s to the Olympics.

The pathway to the senior team is already open. Scoring star Adela Sapovalilova is in line for her fourth World Championship and looks likely to be a big part of the Czech offence in Milan next year. Her credentials are only enhanced after being the top-scoring junior player in the Swedish championship with MoDo. Strike partner Tereza Plosova, also now based in Sweden, is back for a second Worlds this year.

One of Plosova’s clubmates at Djurgardens is hoping for a World Championship debut and – perhaps – a push towards the Games. Linda Vocetkova, who turns 18 on Saturday, captained this year’s U18 roster to bronze and has featured in Czechia’s preparation schedule for the Worlds.

Fulfilling Finland’s five-year plan

Back in 2021, Finland’s then head coach Pasi Mustonen told reporter at the World Championship in Calgary that it would take “three to five years” for the Finns to reach their peak after 2019’s “Miracle in Espoo”. Five years would take us all the way to Milan 2026, and perhaps an Olympic Miracle on Ice.

There are promising signs. Last year, Mustonen’s successor Juuso Toivola coached Finland to bronze in Utica, improving on two quarter-final losses. And there is terrific continuity on the roster, with 16 players who featured in Beijing 2022 making Toivola’s bronze-medal team 12 months ago. But the rest of the world is not standing still. The Czechs are improving, Sweden is always a threat, and the North Americans continue to set new standards. If Finland is to deliver on Mustonen’s conviction that it will once again spring surprises for the top nations – and perhaps represent Europe in an Olympic final for the first time – a good showing here would be a significant indicator.