IIHF, PWHL not aligned over 2026 women's hockey worlds scheduling

Donna Spencer · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 2:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

The International Ice Hockey Federation has postponed announcing the big metropolis of the 2026 women's satellite hockey championship.

The IIHF introduced moving a women's title successful the aforesaid twelvemonth arsenic an Olympic Games successful 2022, but the accomplishment of the Professional Women's Hockey League has made scheduling the 2026 satellite title thorny.

The IIHF said successful an email Monday the allocation of the 2026 women's title was postponed until its semi-annual legislature Oct. 3-4.

The 2022 title was held Aug. 25 to Sept. 4. In Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark, aft February's Olympic Games successful Beijing.

International Ice Hockey Federation women's committee seat Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer said successful April that March-early April for the women's title is successful the IIHF bylaws, and that Denmark's summertime tourney was a one-off.

"That was lone for that year," Kolbenheyer said then. "We ever wanted to enactment it backmost to the archetypal dates."

But the PWHL, entering its 3rd season, does not privation 2 agelong planetary breaks wrong weeks of each other. The Olympic Games successful Milan-Cortina, Italy, tally Feb. 6-22.

"We've had ongoing discussions with the IIHF," PWHL enforcement vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said Friday during a league telephone astir league expansion. "We bash not person a day for that event, determination for that event.

"We bash cognize the Olympics are happening successful February, but thing beyond that is not confirmed. So that's the accusation we person today, and we'll proceed to enactment intimately with the IIHF and assorted nationalist federations."

WATCH l U.S. dethrones Canada astatine 2025 women's hockey worlds:

PWHL expanding by 2 teams

Canada volition big the 2027 women's championship.

The PWHL's 2nd play ran from Dec. 1, 2024 to May 26 erstwhile the Minnesota Frost defended the Walter Cup. Each squad played 30 regular-season games.

The league volition grow by 2 clubs adjacent play successful Vancouver and Seattle.

Kolbenheyer said during April's women's title April 9-20 successful Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic that a survey was issued to the women's hockey assemblage seeking opinions connected satellite title dates "but we decided astatine the assembly level that it would beryllium excessively precocious to bash immoderate changes" to 2026.

The planetary hockey calendar is crowded. It besides includes the men's title successful May, the satellite under-20 men's title successful December-January, the women's under-18 title successful January and the men's under-18 title successful April.

The IIHF besides holds aggregate lower-level divisional tournaments successful those categories that beforehand and relegate countries.

The NCAA's women's Frozen Four successful mid-March besides dictates the women's championship's timing.

The United States bushed Canada 4-3 successful overtime successful this year's satellite title last successful the Czech Republic.