The IIHF is celebrating 500 games of women's hockey at the IIHF World Championships spanning from 1990 to 2024.
The IIHF is celebrating 500 games of women's hockey at the IIHF World Championships spanning from 1990 to 2024.
Sweden and Japan's game at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championships April 7 in Utica, New York was more than an important match up with on-ice tournament implications, it was also a historic milestone for women's hockey at the World Championships.
The game marked the 500th game of women's hockey at the IIHF World Championships, dating back to the inaugural tournament in Ottawa, Canada in 1990.
Few players in the 2024 tournament were even alive when the IIHF first sanctioned women's hockey in 1990. For context, USA's Hilary Knight was eight months old at the time of the tournament, and Canada's Jocelyne Larocque had yet to celebrate her second birthday. Canada's Natalie Spooner wouldn't be born until seven months after the tournament, while Finland's Michelle Karvinen was born two days after the March 25, 1990 gold medal game.
Across the entire 2024 tournament, only Knight, Larocque, China's Baiwei Yu, and Finland's Jenni Hiirikoski were born when the first World Championships took place.
34 years later, the women's World Championships is celebrating the tournament's 500th game, and the continued growth of women's hockey.
Sweden was also involved in the first ever game at the World Championships, a 15-1 loss to Canada in Ottawa. 34 years later they were part of game 500 against Japan. Japan also played on that first day of World Championship competition in 1990 falling 4-1 to West Germany.