The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European Championships, the precursor to the World Championships, were first held in 1910. The tournament held at the 1920 Summer Olympics is recognized as the first Ice Hockey World Championship. From 1920 to 1968, the Olympic hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.
The annual NCAA women's ice hockey tournament—officially known as the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship—is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the top women's team in the NCAA. The 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IIHF World Women's Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship, is the premier international tournament in women's ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The Italian women's national ice hockey team, a.k.a. Blue Ladies, represents Italy at the International Ice Hockey Federation's IIHF World Women's Championships. The women's national team is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio (FISG). Italy has about 490 female players in 2011.
The Slovenian women's national ice hockey team represents Slovenia at the International Ice Hockey Federation's IIHF World Women's Championships. The women's national team is controlled by Hokejska zveza Slovenije. As of 2011, Slovenia has 88 female players. The Slovenian women's national team is ranked 19th in the world.
The 2009 IIHF World Women's Championships was held in Hämeenlinna, Finland, from April 4 to 12, 2009. This was the 12th women's championship run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The defending champions United States defeated Canada 4–1 in the final match to win the gold medal and retain their top standing another year.
Valentina Bettarini is an Italian ice hockey player and member of the Italian national ice hockey team, currently playing with the EVB Eagles Südtirol in both the European Women's Hockey League (EWHL) and the Italian Hockey League Women (IHLW). She represented Italy in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Aged 15 years and 228 days, she was the youngest woman to participate in the tournament.
Anna Aleksandrovna Prugova is a Russian ice hockey player and member of the Russian national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with Agidel Ufa.
The Latvian women's national ice hockey team represents Latvia at the International Ice Hockey Federation's IIHF Women's World Championship and is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. In recent years, participation women's hockey has increased in Latvia; the number of registered women's players grew from 74 in 2018 to 223 in 2020.
The French women's national ice hockey team represents France at international ice hockey tournaments, including the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship. The women's national team is controlled by French Ice Hockey Federation (FFHG). France had 2,622 female ice hockey players registered with the IIHF in 2022, an increase of more than 250% over the 952 players recorded in 2011. As of March 2022, the French women's national team is ranked twelfth in the world; they have ranked as high as tenth, first in 2018.
The 2013 IIHF Women's World Championships was the 15th world championship sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and was the last world championship before the 2014 Winter Olympics. The tournament was hosted in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was primarily played in small community arenas, including the Nepean Sportsplex, but most games were held in Scotiabank Place arena.
The 2014 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships was the 16th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). This was the first time that the women's tournaments were played in an Olympic year. The IIHF determined that the best way to continue advancing the competitive level of nations not invited to the Olympic tournament was to fund participation every year. No top level tournament was played, and initially the IIHF stated that the last placed Olympic participant would be relegated to be replaced by the Division I Group A winner. However after discussion it was changed so that the two teams in question played best of three series instead of simply swapping places.
Michaela Matejová is a Slovak retired ice hockey defenseman and former member of the Slovak national ice hockey team.
Petra Jurčová is a Slovak ice hockey forward and former member of the Slovak national ice hockey team. She represented Slovakia in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics, at seven IIHF Women's World Championship tournaments at the Top Division through Division II levels, and in the women's ice hockey tournaments at the Winter Universiades in 2009 and 2011.
Zuzana Moravčíková is a Slovak retired ice hockey centre and former member of the Slovak national team. She has served as general manager of the Slovak women's national under-18 ice hockey team since 2021.
Anna Kilponen is a Finnish ice hockey defenceman, currently signed with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) for the 2022–23 season. She played four seasons of college ice hockey in the NCAA Division I, two seasons with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and two seasons with the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Following her college career, she has played in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Linköping HC Dam, in the Finnish Naisten Liiga (NSML) with the Tampereen Ilves Naiset, and in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke Rays.
Vilma Tanskanen is a Finnish retired ice hockey player. As a member of the Finnish national team, she won a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship and played in the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship and the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The 2020 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships were the 22nd such series of tournaments organised by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams were supposed to play at six tiers of competition. However, four of the six tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2021 competition and finalized seeding for the 2022 Winter Olympics qualification.
Martin Pavlu is a Czechoslovak-born Italian former professional ice hockey player and a current assistant coach of the Italian women's national ice hockey team. He represented Italy in the men's tournaments at the 1984 Winter Olympics, the 1994 Winter Olympics, and the 1998 Winter Olympics, and at twelve Ice Hockey World Championships, including seven Top Division tournaments.
Kinga Jókai Szilágyi is a Hungarian ice hockey player and member of the Hungarian national ice hockey team, currently playing with the EHV Sabres of the European Women's Hockey League (EWHL).
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