The International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Hockey Championship is coming back to the U.S. for the first time since 2017 in April. This will be the fifth time the U.S. has hosted the competition.
The event in Utica will feature teams from around the world playing 29 games at Adirondack Bank Center according to Adirondack Sports Council Communications Director Jon Lundin.
“We have 10 nations vying for the prestigious title of world champion. They include the United States and Canada as well as China, Czechia, Denmark, Finland Germany, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland. This marks just the second time that this tournament has been held in New York state. The only other previous time was in 1994 when the event was held in Lake Placid. And the U.S. has hosted the IIHF World Championship on four other occasions, most recently back in 2017 when the event was held in Plymouth, Michigan.”
Former NHL Florida Panther and Chicago Blackhawk Kevin Dineen coached the Canadian Olympic women’s hockey team to a gold medal in 1994. He is now in his third year as head coach of the AHL Utica Comets and is looking forward to the upcoming world competition.
“There’s going to be 10 teams here and you know so many times over the past Olympics and World Championships it has come down to the U.S. and Canada. In saying that the rest of the world is catching up so there’s getting to be more parity there. So it’s not only thinking about the final game understanding that there’s going to be a lot of hockey being played here in Utica and the facilities are fabulous. And it does come down to the U.S. and Canada in the past and I would say that those are obviously the two favorites. So let’s just say they’re very well acquainted. They know each other. I wouldn’t say there’s a heck of a lot of love lost between those two teams. So the level of intensity when they face each other is very large.”
Oneida County Tourism is working with a number of stakeholders in advance of the championships. President Sarah Calero wanted Coach Dineen’s input to help promote the games.
“What is something that you look for in the host city, or like something that you feel is really important for the fans and everyone visiting that would give us the best ability to give people the best possible experience?”
“Just the ease of the city, you know the ability to walk to the rink," replied Dineen. "Then I think from a player perspective they’re just so focused on the game. But also to know that we’re going to be bringing in thousands of fans and they’re not going to be fans just from Ottawa or Toronto or Montreal. We’re going to be pulling in people from Russia, from Switzerland, from Sweden and Finland and all those countries and I think you look at this as a real boon for the area, but this area can sell itself as well.”
The IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship games will be held April 3rd through the 14th in Utica. The United States team is the tournament’s defending world champion.
